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A View From the Field |
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March, 2015 March 31 Well, March is finally over. I don't know what it is, but March has always seemed like the longest month of the year to me. It just seems to go on and on forever.
I didn't get to bed until around 2:30 last night. I was reading and I wanted to finish the story, and then I had some things to do before I went to bed. I hope to be earlier tonight. I didn't get up until around 11:00 this morning. When I was up in the night, it was sort of clear. At least the moon was nudging close to Jupiter, and that was pretty. I could see Polaris but nothing more to the north, so it wasn't real clear. By the time I got up, it was cloudy, and while I was knitting, it started to snow. And it snowed...and snowed...and snowed...all day long. I think it's finally stopped, and there wasn't much accumulation, or if there was, it melted. Ugh. I thought that was over with. I think it's stopped now.
The high temperature was 33º, but only briefly, and it was 31º for most of the afternoon. There was a little wind around the time the snow started, but then it died down and it was nearly calm all afternoon. It was actually rather bright, considering, but I'm tired of looking out the front windows and seeing nothing but white.
So are the guys, I guess. They were sleepy. Grayson made me have a small accident, and then he came and sat on me again late in the afternoon. He has apparently been sleeping in the ugly chair lately, and it seems that at least once a day, Louie gets up there and lights into him, for some reason I don't know. He was chasing Grayson around this morning, too, and when I finally got him on one side and Grayson on the other of the monitor, Louie had a big chunk of gray fur in his mouth. I wish he wouldn't do that.
I didn't do much of anything, but I was late and there was a lot of surfing to do. Another quiet day.
Now it's a dark, cloudy night in the field, but it's not very cold and I think possibly the snow has stopped.
March 30 I made it into bed by 11:00 last night, and I slept well. I think I was up three times, and I didn't get up until around 10:30. I felt much better today, but I didn't do much with it.
I knitted, and I cleaned myself up after a really nasty accident - my own fault - but that was about it. I had barbequed pork chops for dinner, but that's an easy recipe, and I still like it after the second try. I did use a bit less water, and I like it better. For just two chops, it doesn't need to be thinned out quite as much. However, I'm running out of chili powder and ketchup. No surprise there. Most of the recipes I make with something tomato in it has chili powder, and I it's been years since I've had to buy ketchup. It's another universal solvent, like canned mushroom soup.
The weather was rather nice. The temperature during the day only got up to 34º officially, but for a while my thermometer was showing 41º, because there was some sunshine. There was no wind to speak about. It started to cloud up around 5:00, but there was enough sun (not caught by the camera) that I could see that the sun is setting over Hunter's Point now, hurrying north. There was enough sun and it was warm enough that a lot of the snow from yesterday melted. Good. We could do without that. By the way, the days are getting longer at a rate of 3m25s now. Oh, eventually spring will come. Really.
The guys were sleepy, of course, but they both got some lap time. Louie spent part of the night with me, and he was on the other side of the bed, but behind my legs. When I got up the second time, he decided to get out, which I appreciated. I don't enjoy trying to get myself settled when he is essentially in the middle of my bed. I wish Grayson would sleep with us, too, but he just won't.
So it was a quiet day. I need to do some online shopping - I'm running out of TP, as well as some other things - but I was so late getting cleaned up that I didn't do it today. Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field. Some of the forecasts say it might snow tomorrow and some don't. We'll see.
March 29 I was really tired last night, but while I didn't diddle around very much, it was 10:30 before I got to bed. I was up at least four times during the night, and I got up at 6:30. I didn't want to, but I wanted to go to church.
It was clear for most of the night, but it had clouded up by the time I got up, although it wasn't raining. I didn't have much trouble getting to church. It was a nice service. We got to sing right at the beginning, then there was the old service and communion. Nice. The only thing was, we didn't sing the Nunc dimittis, which I love. But it was getting late and it would have taken too long.
It rained a bit just before I got to church, and while we were inside, it snowed some, but not more than half an inch. Anyway, with all the upping and downing during the service and the yucky weather, I just did not feel up to shopping, so I guess I'll have to do without my fresh meat and veggies. I did have to get gas, however. The price has gone up to $2.499, but I guess we can't complain. I don't complain when I can fill my tank (nearly 20 gallons) for $50. That's about as good as it ever has been.
I had to swing around by the post office and mail my tax release, and then I started home. Gee, was that interesting. It was drizzling by that time, and the temperature was right about 32º, which meant that the snow that had fallen was very slippery. My rear wheels broke loose a couple of times, although not disastrously. Finally, I just went into 4WD and had done with it. While I know that won't prevent skids, I figure that even if the rear breaks loose, the front might not and I might have better control. It seemed to work, although it took me a very long time to get home, and there were a couple of times going down the hill to Copper Harbor when I had to use the brakes (I don't use my brakes very much, especially in the winter) and the ABS took over. I was glad I have it. Well, finally I made it, and I was wiped out for the rest of the afternoon.
It continued to snow off and on all afternoon, although I don't think there was any accumulation. The temperature here varied between 32º and 35º. There was a very strong wind out of the southwest, with gusts up to 28 mph until about 4:00, when it shifted around to the north and now the gusts are up to 31 mph. Needless to say, it was dark and dismal.
The guys were mostly sleepy, although they sort of wanted to sleep on me. I had to remove Louie, because he wanted to perch on the ends of my thighs and it hurt. I was sorry to do it, but I was so uncomfortable, I had to move him. Grayson got to sit on me a couple of times. They were both glad to see me come home.
So that was my day. I didn't do much of anything for the afternoon, and I will be going up to the north end soon. I am still tired. It's a dark, dank, snowy, sloppy night in the field. Yuck.
March 28 Oh, I diddled around last night, and it was 1:00 before I got to bed. I slept well. There were stars when I was up, and I watched the Big Dipper rise in the east and start to go down in the west. Mostly it's too high to see in the summertime, but I could see the pointer stars. I got up around 11:00 and I knitted.
I didn't do a lot, but there was a mess of pots and pans in the sink that I washed while my dinner was cooking, and I put the rest of the dishes to soak. I should wash dishes tonight, but I'm not sure I will, since I have a lot of stuff to put in the dishwasher. Otherwise, I did nothing. I had to push Grayson away, but I made it to the bathroom without having an accident, although I did drip on the seat a bit. Maybe my big bowl of rice will help that.
The weather was nice, but not as warm as they predicted, at least here. The temperature only got up to 32º here. I think it was in the high 30s in Houghton. There was almost no wind. It was clear and blue until about 6:00, when the clouds started to move in, and it's cloudy in the west now. I'm writing this early, so the sun hasn't set yet. It was cold this morning; it got down to 1º here, and it was -7º at the airport. I was up about the time it bottomed out, and I could feel the cold radiating from the window. By the time I got up, it had warmed up a lot.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson wanted to sit on me, and he did, twice. I haven't seen Louie yet, and since I want to go up to the north end early, I probably won't. I'll have to make it up to him tomorrow.
Oh yeah, I did look at my taxes, and that verified in my mind that it was good that I didn't try to do them myself. There are all those schedules, and when Michigan changed the tax rules a year or so ago, they made them so complicated, I doubt anybody but an accountant could figure them out. So I will mail the release tomorrow. One good thing about how complicated the new rules are is that they're unlikely to audit me. What a bunch of turkeys.
So that was a quiet and truncated day. I was sitting around before I went to make my dinner, and I realized that I don't feel very good. I'm tired and headachy. I don't know what that means, except that I need to sleep.
Now it's beginning to cloud up in the field, and we may have some more snow...or rain...or rain and snow...
March 27 I made it into bed by 11:30 last night, and I mostly slept well, I think. I set the alarm for 9:30, but I woke up around 9:00, which made it much easier for me to do my morning things. I didn't knit, of course. I didn't have time for that. And I was late anyway, but oh, well. Johanna is used to that.
It was a long appointment, and she worked hard on me. I can't yet tell what the results were, but I expect to feel better tomorrow. I stopped on my way home and picked up my mail, including my taxes and a whole lot of pills, as well as some other stuff. I was still looking at the jewelry catalog when the Schwan's guy called, so I went up to the end of the road and waited for him there. No way was he going to get down the road today. So now I have lots of things to eat, except no fresh veggies, so I guess I will have to try to stop at the store on Sunday.
I didn't have time to do much else, but while my dinner was cooking, I finally decanted my rice, and I got seven meals (including 4 frozen) out of the last batch. It should have been eight, but in order to do that, I would have to fiddle, so I didn't, and I had a really big helping tonight. I'm glad to get that stuff in the freezer, and I have enough for tomorrow, too.
The weather was clear and frigid. The low temperature overnight was 3º, which set a new record, and the high was a balmy 17º. It's back down to 8º now, and it's supposed to get really cold overnight tonight, before it warms up into the upper 30s or low 40s tomorrow. It looks like our high will be a new record low, too. Weird weather. There wasn't much wind, so it wasn't too bad being outside, and the sunshine was very nice. they are predicting snow for Sunday, but we'll just have to see about that. I hope not, because I need to stop at the grocery store and get gas.
The guys slept, but Louie is having hairball problems. Not that I'm surprised, with all the fur he won't let me brush out of him. Grayson finally got some lap time this evening, but I haven't seen Louie yet. He was around this morning when I didn't have time for him to sit on me. They like the sunshine, too.
So it was another quiet day. I still have to look at the taxes, but I'd like to get the release in the mail tomorrow, if I can. If not, I can mail it Sunday. Now I will probably read until the symphony is over with, and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour. It's a clear, frigid night in the field.
March 26 I forgot to upload last night, and I was so late this morning that I didn't do it until the middle of the afternoon. I did write the thing, but I was distracted by something or another. Sorry. My mind...
I was even later this morning. It was mostly the music again, I guess. Minnesota Public Radio (or American Public Media, which is really the same thing) has created a website that streams Classical 24 for 24 hours a day. I have been hoping for such a site, since my local station only plays it at selected times. My radio station started cutting out in the middle of Fresh Air, so once it was over, I turned off the radio and started listening online. The site is http://www.yourclassical.org/ and besides Classical 24, you can get Pipedreams and Symphony Cast and a bunch of other stuff from it. They used to call those things "portals." Anyway, wherever it came from, the music was nice, if not outstanding, so I just kept listening and reading. Then I had to wash my hair. Sigh.
While I was sitting here last evening, the wind shifted to the northwest, and I started hearing whistling and I started feeling a breeze, so I made my way to the patio door, and when I tried it, it had opened up about a quarter inch - enough to let the wind and the snow inside. There is something wrong with that door, and I will have to see if I can get it fixed this summer. I have no clue why it should open up by itself like that. I know I shut it tight last year when I discovered the same problem. I say again, that while the windows I have are all right, they are just not the high quality I was used to from the windows I had at my other house. The patio doors and the screens are lousy.
I was up around 10:30, and that just seemed too early, so I went back to bed, but I didn't sleep deeply and I got up around 12:30. I knitted, and then after breakfast, I had an accident - of course, what else? - so it's been a very truncated day.
I did make it to choir practice, although when I saw the weather this morning, I was wondering. Actually, the show stopped in the early afternoon and the sun came out, and by the time I left the house, the sky was clear. It was good that I went. We are singing a whole lot of stuff a whole lot of times in the next week or so, and Pastor has decided to have a rehearsal on Wednesday, which is a good thing. There was a whole lot of stuff I had never seen, so we practiced for nearly two hours. So I can sing Sunday and I know about the rehearsal on Wednesday.
Driving wasn't the best. It seemed clear that the road commission had not been out on the covered road when I went down, and it was bad, even though we apparently only got about 5" of snow. When I got back, the plows had been over the road and it was better, but not good. The problem was that it was 34º until almost 4:00 this morning, and then the temperature plummeted to a low of 18º. That meant that there was a layer of ice under the snow we got today. The covered road was bad and north of Mohawk, I never knew when I was going to run across a patch of ice and snow. It was a slow trip both ways.
The temperature did get back up to 21º here, but it was cold. It was also windy, with gusts up to 31 mph this morning and winds in the 20 mph range all day. The snow came through in waves, so much of it must have been lake effect, now that the lake is getting ice-free. It sure was nice to be able to put on my sunglasses when I started for town, but it was cold outside.
The guys slept. Grayson was partly responsible for my accident after breakfast, and he sat on me after dinner until I twitched. I haven't seen Louie yet, but he slept, too. They were both waiting when I came home and Grayson yawned at me. They know I do this, but they don't like it.
So I have promised myself I would be in bed as close to 11:00 as possible, since I have a massage at 11:00 tomorrow that I really need. I'm tired anyway. On top of not enough sleep, I just drove 75 miles in not the best conditions.
So now it's a clear, very cold (around 16º) night in the field. There will be stars.
March 25 It was the music again. Nothing major, but a lot of very nice stuff. I finally had to call a halt halfway through Dvorak's Serenade for Strings or I would never have gotten to bed. Then I had some work to do before I finally turned out the light. I slept, of course, and I didn't finally get up until after noon. Not what I wanted, but oh, well.
I knitted and I finished the second repeat on the second side. That means I'm about two-thirds done with the stole, and I'm making good progress. If I knitted more it would go faster, but my hands can't take too much of that. Actually, my hands didn't feel bad today. It's like all arthritis - the worse the weather, the more they hurt, and with the barometer dropping and the humidity high, it wasn't surprising that I hurt.
It was still clear when I went to bed, although I missed Venus and the moon setting. When I woke up the first time, it was getting light, and while it had clouded over, nothing was coming down. It sure was when I got up. The snow apparently started around 8:15, but it stopped around 12:30, then it started again around 3:15 and it was still snowing when it got dark. I don't think there was much accumulation, an inch and a half at most, but we had 0.36" of equivalent water. It was warm; the high temperature was 34º, and it was above freezing for most of the afternoon. That's the reason for all the droplets on the window in front of the camera. The wind was under 10 mph all day, but it's switched around to the north now, so that might be interesting, since a lot of the ice is gone from the lake. It was dull and cloudy all day, of course, and it was a good day to sleep or otherwise ignore the outside.
The guys did. Grayson got some lap time, so I had an accident, but I kept pushing Louie away. He might come back tonight, but I don't expect to be here long. We are all affected by the barometer and the humidity.
I was so late that I didn't do anything much except wash a load of stuff that had been lying in the hallway since last fall - a hoodie sweater, a hoodie sweatshirt, and my unlined windbreaker. They had gotten all covered with dust. They are in the dryer now, and there were no problems with the final spin. I am wondering if it doesn't have something to do with the size of the load and it might be a problem with the lid interlock. I will be watching it, but it's a pain.
So that was a quiet day, and I'm tired, even though I got up late. Tonight I have to wash my hair no matter how late I am. Right now I'm listening to Mozart, so I won't be going up to the north end immediately. It's a dark, snowy night in the field, but it's relatively warm and it isn't windy.
March 24 Last night I guess I can blame it on the music. I was about to go up to the north end at midnight when they announced that they were going to play Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. That has always been my top favorite of all the Beethoven symphonies, and I don't get to hear it very often, so I had to stay up, and after that there was a lot of other nice music, so I stayed to listen. Then I was afraid to get up for fear I would have an accident. When I finally did get up, I was fine, but by that time I needed a snack, so I stopped to have a banana and then I didn't quite make it to the bathroom. Nothing serious, but still.
So it was 11:00 before I finally got up. It was a lovely clear night last night, and I'm sorry I didn't get to see more of it. I knitted, and I have only 8 more rows on the second repeat, and I started the fourth ball of yarn. It's a pretty thing, but it's getting long enough that it's rather unwieldy.
I was late enough that I didn't do much except return the call from the accountant and call Johanna to set up an appointment. That will be Friday. Oh, how I need her! Oh, yes and I washed a full load of polar fleece - and the final spin didn't go. So I guess there is something still wacky in my washer. It was working fine before today. I need to get that load into the dryer before I go to bed.
I made rice tonight, another full pot, but I think I will just put it in the fridge and decant it tomorrow. Maybe I don't need to eat rice every day, but I do need it at least every two days or I have more problems than usual. So now I have at least five more servings, which should last a while. I still want to go to Pat's and get some store-bought frozen packages, but my home made is actually more tasty.
The weather was pretty nice but not quite as extreme as they were predicting. The high temperature was 40º and it was mostly to completely clear. The wind was very light until around 5:00, when it began to get gusty, with gusts up to 25 mph from the south. They still insist that it's going to snow tomorrow, but they keep pushing back when it will start and when it will get heaviest. The NWS is beginning to hedge their bets, so we'll see. Now it looks like there will be some stars tonight.
The guys know a change in the weather is coming and they mostly slept. I haven't seen Louie yet. Grayson spent most of the afternoon under the south windows. He got some sun early, and then he just stayed. He sat on me a couple of times.
So that was another quiet day. I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night and I don't expect to be up too much longer tonight. Now it's a mostly clear, not very cold evening in the field.
March 23 Well, that was interesting last night. Obviously, I was so tired I should have gone to bed a whole lot earlier. So instead of turning out the light at 10:45, it was 11:30. I slept very well, with just a couple of wakeups. I was up around 7:00 and the next time I woke up it was 11:00, so I guess I pretty much caught up on my sleep. I'm tired again, though, so maybe I can be a little earlier tonight. I want to take a bath, though, so maybe not.
I knitted, which meant I was very late getting to the office. While I was knitting, there was a phone call, which I let go to the answering machine, and then I forgot about it. So I need to call the accountant's office tomorrow as soon as I can. My mind...
I was so late, and I had a nasty accident, so I didn't do much of anything. In fact, I was still doing my surfing when the talking came on. It's a good thing I hear the first half-hour of ATC twice.
The weather was rather cold and partly to mostly cloudy. The temperature went from 11º to 21º between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning, but then it only got to 29º later in the afternoon. There wasn't much wind, from the south or southwest. I guess it's supposed to be better tomorrow.
The guys were mostly sleepy. They both got some lap time. Louie went after Grayson while I was in the bathroom cleaning up after the accident, and I don't know why, except that Grayson had been on my lap when I had to get up and run. I don't know why Louie does those things. Grayson got his later, though, and he just got off my lap before I started this. They are both shedding already. I have to believe it has more to do with the amount of light than the temperature. If I was them, I'd want to hang on to as much of my winter coat as I could, in this weather.
So I cooked tonight, and while I couldn't find the broccoli cheese soup I was sure I bought, I had broccoli anyway with my chicken and rice. It was good. I suppose I will be all gassy tonight, but I don't care. I can (and have) get too much broccoli, but I do like it and I haven't had any for a while.
So now it's a partly cloudy, cold night in the field, and I'll be off to the north end pretty soon.
March 22 Oops. I was in bed, ready to turn over and go to sleep, when I realized I hadn't written anything. Not that it's so important, but I don't want to get out of the habit. So here I am.
I got to bed by 10:00 last night and I slept fairly well, but I had to get up around 6:10. I went back to bed after I peed, but I wasn't ready to get up for good when the alarm went off, and that was the story of my day. I got out of the house about when I wanted to - around 9:15, although I would like to have been earlier.
Fortunately, the roads were all clear and dry. I was afraid that some of the melt water might have frozen in spots, but it hadn't, so my trip down to church was an easy one. It takes me about 50 minutes under the best of circumstances. There wasn't any traffic until I got to Mohawk, and then there was one slow guy I passed, but there wasn't much else.
Church was good and I think we sang all right. There was communion, so it was a rather long service. I had been thinking that I would stop at Pat's for a few things I'm running out of - like lettuce - but I was so tired after all the upping and downing that I just came right home and I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon, even cook, like I'd been planning.
The weather was beautiful to look at, clear and sunny all day, but the high temperature was only 23º and there was a north wind up to 15 mph, so it was cold. The nice thing about the sunshine was that even though it was so cold, I got a lot of solar heat in the house, and it wasn't until the sun went down that the boiler started up again. I'll take all of that I can get. They seem to think there will be snow by the middle of the week and maybe next Sunday and next week, too, but we'll see. They sure were wrong about this weekend.
The guys were sleepy, but Louie got some lap time. Grayson was around, but he didn't sit on me, or I can't remember that he did. They seem resigned to me getting up early and going away on Sunday morning, which is a good thing.
When I got up to go to bed, Venus and the thin crescent moon were in conjunction over the lighthouse, but Venus had set before I turned out the light. It sure was a pretty sight while they were up, though. I didn't see any northern lights last night and it doesn't look like there are any tonight, either, although that could always change before morning.
So there wasn't much to write, but I want to make sure I do something every night. At least I can keep one habit.
It's a cold, clear night in the field.
March 21 I was in bed by 11:30 last night. I was so full of gas it was amazing that I didn't float away, and I felt lousy, so after I got rid of as much as I could, I just went to bed. I felt better this morning, but I'm still gassy and I don't feel all that good. So it was a quiet day. I knitted, but I didn't do much else.
I wrote for a while this afternoon, and that's about it. I would like to get Trine 6 up to 33,000 or 34,000 words, and while it's at 27,000, more or less, now, it's amazing how hard it is to bulk up something, when I think of the other stories I've written that have come in at 100,000 or more words. I don't want it to sound like I'm padding, so I have to be careful. It was definitely too short before, but I'm not sure whether the new version will be that much better. Once I have written - or rewritten - one of these things, I usually just let it sit for several months before I even read it over again. I have several other parts of Trine that have the same problem, as well as several other things that are unfinished, so I can leave it after I get it done. We'll see how it goes. I find that sometimes writing is easy and things just flow out of me, but other times it's very hard.
The weather was not what was predicted last night. The NWS screwed up badly. Not only did it not rain, snow and sleet, like they said, it was clear and starry all night. I was up several times, and there weren't any northern lights, but I could definitely see stars. And it was clear or nearly clear all day, too. Where they were right is that the temperature plummeted. The low was between 10:00 and noon, 14º, before it started to recover a bit. It's now up to 21º. There was a strong north wind, too, with gusts up to 32 mph. There were a few clouds in the sky during the day, but now it's completely clear. Oh, those blue skies! The sun is setting in the notch on the north side of Brockway, on its way north. The days are 12.2 hours long now, and we're gaining sunshine at the rate of nearly 3½ minutes a day. Much as I dislike DST, the long bright evenings sure are nice.
The guys mostly slept, but now that there is sunshine on the desk, Grayson is spending most of the time I'm in the studio asleep under the south windows. Both he and Louie got some lap time today. Louie slept with me for most of the night. He was down by my legs for quite a while, but one time when I was up a bit longer than he thought I should be, he got down, and later he came back and settled down by my pillow. I wish he'd sleep there all the time, because at least then I can get out of bed!
So that was another quiet day. I notice that the harbor is frozen solid again - I think it was softening up a bit - and the MODIS imagery shows that there is still ice over most of the lake from the Keweenaw east. Where there isn't any ice is on the south side of the peninsula, except from the Portage Canal south. That's unusual, and I wonder what's caused it. Anyway, we still need a lot of warm weather before the lake frees up. But it's spring, and eventually it will warm up and the ice and snow will go.
Now it's a clear, very cold evening in the field and I am enjoying the last of the sunshine.
March 20 - Spring Equinox!! Well, it's officially spring. So it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. Of course.
I wasn't late at all last night, which was surprising for a Thursday. I was in bed by 12:45 again. I slept fairly well, with the usual wakeups, and I had to maneuver around Louie for most of the night. When I finally got up, around 9:30, I think, I had to boot him out of bed in order to get up. He was asleep right behind my knees, and i couldn't get out with him there. He was not pleased, and in fact, when I pushed him, he almost bit me. Geez, Louie, I was not meant to be your pillow! You want me to pee in the bed?
I knitted, but I didn't do much else. I had to find the number the accountant called me about yesterday after I left for church, and in order to do that, I had to dig through the top barrel to make sure I had the right report. So I did that, but not much else.
I have been having a growly tummy all day. I had to go to the bathroom twice while I was making my breakfast, as well as after it, before dinner, and I'm growling again. I don't know what the problem is. I haven't been taking my Imodium for a couple of days, but that didn't seem to make so much difference the last time. I'm not sure why it is now. Anyway, I will have to seek the bathroom again pretty soon, so I think I will just go off to bed early. I don't feel all that good anyway,
It was a nondescript day. It was cloudy and gray and the high temperature, 45º, was at 1:00, and it's been dropping ever since. There was a breezy north wind until around 4:00, and now it's gone nearly calm. I guess we are in for a "wintry mix" for the next 24 hours, and the high temperature tomorrow is only supposed to be in the low 20s. So much for spring.
The guys slept, but Grayson wanted to sit on me all day, for some reason. Louie only tried once, I think, and he went away before I could let him on my lap.
So that was a quiet day. I was writing a little on Trine 6 before I started this, but since the symphony is Schumann and I've heard that, I think I will go and sit in the bathroom for a while and see if I can get rid of the gas, at least. It's a dark, cloudy, cold night in the field.
March 19 Last night was a little more reasonable. I took a bath and I got to bed around 12;45. I slept fairly well, I guess. When I turned out the light, it was dark in the north, but when I was up around 3:30, there was a faint green glow, not nearly as bright as the night before, but the sky wasn't as clear. There seemed to be some slow changes, mostly brightening and dimming, but they were just cloud-like things, nothing dramatic - no spikes or curtains or anything. Most of it was behind the trees. The last time we had a solar max, the trees were quite a bit lower and I could see more. I am encouraged that my eyes seem to be pretty good now and I can see a lot more than I have for several years. We aren't at solar max yet, so I'm looking forward to the light show in the next few years. I seem to be able to discern color in the dim lights a lot better than before, too, so that should make it fun.
I got up around 10:30 and knitted. I'm starting the second repeat on the second side, and the rows I knitted this morning seem to go quickly, or at least they did today. I got enough sleep that I felt much better today, although I'm tired now. I guess I should be, after driving 75 miles and singing my little heart out. We have a piece for Palm Sunday that has a lot of nice high Gs in it, and I was pleased to see that mostly my voice was in good shape. Holding a high G for a whole measure is always interesting, but I seemed to be able to do it. The short ones were harder. Anyway, Easter is bearing down on us quickly and we still haven't even looked at our Easter anthem. Next week will be an interesting rehearsal.
This afternoon, I went to the post office and to the store, where there was a package, but I had an accident and I had to leave for choir so early that I didn't get to do anything much else.
The weather was so-so. The high temperature was 39º, and it was quite windy until around 3:00, when the wind died down. It was cloudy but bright. Sort of blah.
The guys were blah, too and I didn't see much of them until I got home. They mostly sleep in weather like this.
So that was a slow day, and I'll be off to the north end fairly soon, although I may stay up to hear the rest of the Dvorak Cello Concerto. It's a dark, cloudy night in the field, so even if there are some northern lights, we won't be seeing them.
March 18 Well, it was ridiculous. First, it was a crazy hour of the morning when I finally went up to the north end. Then, if you will believe it, I got ready for bed with all the lights out. I had my night light, which is dim, and my red flashlight, and that was it. It was rewarding, though.
It was beautifully clear, and with my glasses on (the first time I've looked at the stars with them on since my surgery) I could see stars down to about the fourth magnitude even through the screens. What I was looking for was auroras, and I sort of saw them. There was an extremely bright green glow down by the horizon, although it didn't get above the trees. There must have been some sky glow over that, though, because it was very light. There wasn't any movement that I could see, but there was that green glow. One thing I know is that I could see color better than I used to. I suppose that makes sense. Anyway, it was glorious, and I just sat and looked for at least 15 minutes, even though it was ridiculously late. I hope to see something tonight, too, but the skies are getting iffy, so we'll see.
I finally got to bed, and I slept very well, but not nearly long enough, so it is going to have to be an earlier night tonight.
I was so late getting up that after I finished my knitting (I finished the first repeat on the second side) I didn't have much time for anything else, especially since I had an accident and had to clean up after that. This one wasn't as bad as some, but still. I did knit a little bit on the bag, but I just finished the round I ended up with yesterday.
The weather was cold again, but lovely. The high temperature was only 27º, but the north wind wasn't very strong. It was nearly clear all day, although there were some high cirrus clouds in the sky this afternoon. We all love all that lovely sunshine, and I love all the solar heating we're getting. The boiler is getting a rest for a while.
The guys were sleepy, and I didn't see Louie at all after breakfast. I don't know where he goes to sleep, but it might be up in the loft.
So it was a very truncated day, and I'm very tired now. I hope to see some more northern lights tonight, but I'm not going to stay up half the night. I'll have to catch them when I get up to pee. It's a cold, clear night in the field.
March 17 The gremlins keep on coming. I was minding my own business around 10:00 last night when quite suddenly my internet connection went away - and I mean really away. I left it and went back to my reading, but it didn't come back. Then around 1:00 when I finally decided I'd better go to bed, I decided to take a look at things first. When I accessed the router, it said it was disconnected. Huh? So I looked at it, and the light that says it's connected to the receiver was out. I fiddled around for a while, but I finally hauled the CPU out from under the desk and when I found the cable to the interface block and wiggled it, I discovered that the cord to the outside had come partway out. I don't know how that could happen. The block is back behind the CPU and I hadn't been kicking anything. Gremlins. Anyway, I reseated it and then everything was fine. Of course, then it was too late to take a bath, so I went to bed.
The other thing I don't understand is that all the cables to and from the router and the receiver have gotten braided. I know that the last time I did anything much behind the CPU (when I installed the new monitor) I was very careful about the other cables, and I haven't been back there since. But the cables are braided. When I have time, I need to straighten them out, because the way they are now, something else could pull loose. How does that happen? It's the strangest thing I've ever seen, but it has happened to all the cables to all the computers I've ever used.
Anyway, I was very late getting to bed and very late getting up, so I didn't do much of anything, especially since I had another accident (oh, yes, I had one right before I went to bed this morning, too) and had to clean up from that. It wasn't as bad as the ones yesterday, so the rice is working, but it was still icky. By the time I got over that, the talking was on. I finished my surfing while the talking was on and then I knitted a few rounds on my bag. It's going to be all right. I still don't like the color very well, but how much I dislike it depends upon the lighting, so I guess it will do. The ball band says it's DK weight, but I think it's a bit thicker than that, but the needles are big enough that the yarn-over holes are pretty big.
The weather was quite cold, but pretty. The temperature only got up to 31º, and the wind was quite strong from the north, but it was beautifully clear for most of the day. There were a couple of clouds around sunset, but the night is supposed to be clear. It was so nice to sit in the warm sunshine! I guess because I was so late getting to bed and I didn't get up for the first time until it was getting light, I missed a sky show last night. I hope there's one tonight. We are having a geomagnetic storm and there should be some good northern lights tonight. I hope to see some.
The guys mostly slept, and I didn't see much of them.
So now it's a dark, clear night in the field, and I need to wash my hair.
March 16 Eek! Ack! Aarrgh!! My house is beset by gremlins!
I mentioned that the final spin wasn't working in my washer. And it didn't yesterday. Well, today, it's working. I finally finished up the load of white stuff this morning, and the load spun out after the special rinse. Then I had a nasty - really nasty - accident, and that load ran through both the wash cycle and the special rinse just fine. Well, I'm glad to have that settled - or I hope it is. My house and particularly the laundry room is such a mess I can't have any repairmen in here.
The printer seems to be working again, except for the alignment.
I think I mentioned that when DST started and I had to reset the start and stop times in the camera software, it wasn't working right: if I set them at the actual times I wanted, they started and stopped an hour later than what I set them as. I communicated with the author of the program, but he didn't have any insight. Well, after having to reboot the computer twice or three times (I forget now), everything seems to be working right.
After not working for most of the fall and winter, the light behind the speedometer on my car seems to be working again, although I'll have to check that out before I'll believe it for sure.
The attack of the gremlins! Run for your lives!
I was so tired that I was in bed before 10:00 last night. I slept well, except that I was up about every two hours, to pee. When I was up the first time, I was delighted to see that it was mostly clear, and I saw Orion (with the exception of Rigel, which was under a cloud) for the first time this winter. He is so pretty! By the time I got through in the bathroom, though, it had clouded over. It was a nice glimpse.
I finally got up around 10:00 this morning, but believe me, I only got about 8 hours' sleep. I feel somewhat better, although I'm tired again now. I've been waking up with a sinus headache lately, so I think I either have something or I'm getting over something. It goes away after I've been up a while and blown my brains out, but it doesn't make getting up any easier.
I knitted my eight rows without much trouble except that I wasn't seeing very well this morning.
The accident was mostly my fault. I should have made a dash for the bathroom when I started gurgling, but I didn't. I guess it's time to eat rice for a few days and I think I'll stop taking the Imodium for a few days. The last time things got really bad, I stopped taking it for about four days and when I started it again, it seemed to work better. I guess that's a problem with Imodium.
Otherwise, my day was truncated enough that I didn't do a lot, and I spent quite a while on the telephone trying to get my mail-order prescription web site straightened out. They did a terrible job of transitioning us to our new prescription coverage. I think possibly things are straight now, and I will get my prescriptions on time, but I'll have to check it out tomorrow to be sure. Grr. It's not that I need anything this moment, but my prescriptions were scheduled to go out at the end of the month, and I discovered that when they moved me to the new coverage, they didn't move any of that information. So I went around and around with them, and maybe - just maybe - it's straight now. I will give them a day to get it set up properly and then I'll check again. That took quite a while, but in the meantime, I was able to check on the bill I got from the hospital for the doctor visit I had last June 11, and I determined that indeed, I was never billed for it. Nine months? I think I will call them just to voice my displeasure. Not even the government or the old supplemental policy I had are that slow paying! I like the doctor and I like what I've seen of the hospital, but their billing is absolutely the pits. After the problems I had with the billing for my eye surgery, I keep thinking how much money we waste because almost all hospitals' billing services are totally screwed up. The only one I can remember that wasn't was the University of Michigan Hospital, and that was 14 years ago. Grr...
The weather was the kind it was better to ignore. The high temperature for the day was at midnight, 57º, and it's declined slowly ever since. It's 34º now. There were some fairly high winds overnight, but they died down by morning. It has been all from the north. It was cloudy and dull all day. I guess there was some rain around Houghton, but I don't think we got any.
The guys slept mostly.
While the talking was going on, I cast on a little project I got the yarn for. It's going to be a sort of pouch bag with a lace piece on each side. I've been seeing the pattern online, so I finally got it, and then I got the yarn for it the other day. I don't like the color very well - it's called "linen" but it's actually a light tan. There is no linen that's not dyed that is that color. Anyway, it starts in the center of the square, and I had some trouble casting on, but now I've got it and I knitted a few rounds during the talking. I have been using a small denim bag for my stuff, just so I don't have to fish around in the bottom of my tote for it, but that looks sort of tacky. This will be nice enough looking that I'll be able to use it for a purse if I want to. I tried using my old black Coach bag (which badly needs some cleaning and rejuvenating) a week ago and it was so heavy I could hardly carry it. This thing will be light enough that I won't have that problem. The tan one will do for summer, and I may make another one in navy for winter. It is meant to be lined, so I'll have to root through my stash (yes, I have a stash of fabric, too) and see what will go with it. I don't think it will take too long to do.
So that was my quiet day, if you ignore the gremlins. Now it's a coolish, cloudy night in the field, although it's supposed to clear up later.
March 15 Wow, I'm tired!
I made it into bed by about 10:00 last night, but I had some trouble sleeping. Part of it was Louie's fault. He wanted to sleep with me, but he wanted to lie about halfway down the bed and he wanted to be perpendicular to the edge. That was fine when I was lying on my left side, but my right shoulder was sore, so I wanted to turn over. I managed the first time, and then I was able to sleep on my left side for a while. When I woke up and wanted to turn over, he was there and he would not move, so after thrashing around for a while, I finally booted him out. That helped, and I went back to sleep, but when the alarm went off, he was back in the same spot. I don't know why he wants to lie there, rather than up by my head, where he used to sleep, or down by the foot in the nice cushy comforter.
Anyway, I woke up just before the alarm went off, and I must say it's nice to wake up to music. I got up and did my thing, and I didn't diddle around - or I didn't think I was, but somehow I managed not to get out of the house until about 9:25, which is quite a bit later than I wanted to leave. I made it to church, but I didn't stop in the restroom beforehand,
Church was nice. It was the old service that I love, although between Lent, when we don't sing a lot of stuff and no communion, it was rather truncated. Pastor's sermon was a very interesting one, about how we put "graven images" in our churches, like crucifixes and murals (both of which we have in St. Paul's) but as long as we don't worship them, they're just fine. Making up rules, like the Reformed churches do, or praying to the images, like the Catholics and Orthodox churches do, is wrong. So it was nice. I think we sang all right, although this is the second time we've sung the song, and we still don't have it completely right. I'm sure the congregation didn't notice.
After church, I got a smile out of Anna Lily, who is our little girl baby. She is not quite walking yet, and usually she is very solemn, but I smiled at her and talked to her and she smiled at me, and she really wanted me to hold her. I don't usually do that, since I don't have the slightest idea what to do with a kid. Anyway, it was nice to be smiled at. Simon, who is a bit older and walking, recognizes me and smiles at me when he sees me.
I had to get gas. I know I did that last week, but then I discovered that I drove home in 4WD, which uses a lot more gas, and I had to go to Houghton on Tuesday, as well as choir practice. I might have made it on Thursday and down to church on Sunday, but i didn't want to take any chances. The price had gone down about 3¢ a gallon, which was nice. I think I probably got home around 1:00 and I immediately changed my clothes. I wore a pair of actual shoes today, and I'm growing out of my 12Ws. It's not only that they're not wide enough - they aren't long enough either. Sigh. So I had rather sore feet by the time I took off my shoes.
And when I got to the kitchen, the fridge was blinking "PF." Oh? Evidently, from what I could figure, we had a power glitch around 10:00 this morning. I haven't checked most of the clocks, but I presume I will have to set them, and that is a pain. At least the computer rebooted successfully. Now, why we would have a power outage I do not know, but at least everything came back all right.
I had a little lunch, and I was sitting at the computer when my eyes started to try to go shut. Oh, dear. I had started the last load of clothes, and when I checked it, there was water in the tub, so I washed them over - and there was water in the tub! I'm afraid the control on my washer has gone. It appears that it's the last spin that isn't happening. The spin does work, since I did a "quick spin" and that was fine, but something is not right. I still have to re-rinse the load with fabric softener, so it won't get dried until tomorrow. Sigh.
However, on the bright side, my efforts to clean the print head seems to have resurrected the printer. It still fails the alignment, but my old one did that, too, and it seems to print just fine. I think the problem when I finished cleaning the head was that it was still damp with alcohol. I printed a knitting pattern, and it did fine. Of course, the sensors for the amount of ink are all screwed up, but I can ignore that. I haven't used enough ink to be running out of colors, no matter what it thinks. So that has turned out all right, and I probably don't need a new print head. If I had all the money in the world, I would probably buy one just in case, but I don't so I won't. I will have to break down and get some new ink cartridges, since I like to have a set on hand for when they do in fact run out.
It was a relatively warm, cloudy day. The temperature got up to 46º briefly, around 5:00 this afternoon, and for most of the afternoon, there was a brisk wind from the southwest, with gusts up to 25 mph. It was mostly cloudy, unlike what everybody said would happen, but it was bright-cloudy for most of the time. It was very humid, and the result of that was that every joint in my body hurt, and even though the humidity has gone down some (from 88% to 68%) it's still humid and I still hurt.
The guys did not like me going away, and they hung around all the time I was getting ready this morning. They were glad to see me when I came home and they both got some lap time. I had to laugh at them while I was in the bathroom after breakfast. Grayson wanted to go to sleep on the rug, but Louie came in, so Grayson was twitching the end of his tail. Louie laid down, stretched out to his full length, and he started trying to reach out and play with the end of Grayson's tail. It was fun to watch.
So that was a nice Sunday, and I'm so tired that I'm going to go up to the north end right away. I need sleep and lots of it. Now it's a cloudy, breezy night in the field.
March 14 Not much to report today. I finally went up to the north end when the radio station went off the air in the middle of a Beethoven String Quartet (grr...). I have no idea why I took me so long to get to bed, since I didn't have anything to do and I didn't do anything much in the bathroom. Strange.
I slept well. I finally got up around 10:00, I think, after I had the same potty dream two or three times in a row, like restarting a YouTube video, and it was right. I didn't feel like getting up and I didn't feel good all day, for some reason I don't know. Maybe it was the weather. I had a sort of sinus headache all day.
I did my knitting, although I discovered that I didn't mark down the last two rows I did. Fortunately, I can read the knitting well enough that I could see where I stopped.
The tasks of the day were to wash and fill the pill dispensers. I got the pill dispensers in the studio filled, but I still have to do the ones at the north end. I was up there when I had an accident (my own fault - I just didn't want to move) but I had to get detergent from the breezeway and start the next load of clothes. I haven't done the white stuff yet, and it won't happen until tomorrow. The second load is in the washer now, and I need to hang up the socks, but I won't do another load tonight. I was so late getting started, and then, like I said, I just didn't feel like moving, so it was too late to do the whole thing. Sigh.
It was a real nothing day, weatherwise. The temperature was 34º all day, except right around noon, when it was 35º. It was windy overnight and breezy in the morning, but it's been calm now for several hours. It was dull and cloudy all day, although it isn't possible to prove that from the camera, which hung up this morning. Somebody also knocked it askew again. I will fix that soon. Anyway, it was a better day to be doing something else.
The guys thought so, too. They both got some lap time and while I was up at the north end cleaning up, Grayson came and rolled over on his back, so he got his chin rubbed, as well as a little tickling on his tummy and between his front legs. He doesn't like a real tummy rub, like Louie does, but he'll stand for a little of it. The only thing is, when he's had enough, the needles come out and I'm not usually fast enough to get out of his way.
So that was my quiet, truncated day, and I'll be off to the north end as soon as I publish this, to fill the pill dispensers and wash my hair for tomorrow. It's a calm, cool, cloudy night in the field.
March 13 I did it again. I wasn't quite as late as I was the night before, but that's not saying much. I spent some time staring at the floor. Zombie mode. I slept well, but I got up at around 9:30 anyway, and that wasn't nearly enough sleep. Now tonight, there is Mozart followed by Beethoven, so I probably won't be in bed before midnight. I knitted and I was late enough that I didn't do much except go to the post office, where I met someone who talked my ear off.
I did get the monthly Microsoft updates installed on both computers.
The weather was cloudy but fairly warm. The temperature peaked at 47º around 2:00, which was the time when the wind stopped blowing from the west and went calm before it switched around to the south, although it's swinging around toward the west again now, It was quite windy this morning, with gusts up to 23 mph. It was mostly cloudy for most of the day. I have to say that I'm enjoying the warmer temps. I haven't had to use the space heater in several days and it's quite warm in the bathroom.
I didn't see a lot of the guys, although after dinner Grayson came and sat on me for a while. Louie decided he wanted to sleep with me last night, and he decided the place to be was with his back up against my butt. That was fine until I woke up and had to get up and then turn over. I actually had to push him out of bed. Sometimes I wonder about that cat. He's lived here long enough to know how I sleep.
So that was a quiet day, and once the Beethoven is over, I'll be off to bed. Promise. Now it's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
March 12 Well, last night I didn't have anything but myself to blame it on. I was reading and I just went into zombie mode again. Then on my way to the north end, I had an accident, and after I sort of cleaned up from that, I really had to take a bath, so it was a ridiculous hour before I went to bed. It was a ridiculous hour when I woke up, too, but I got about 8½ hours of sleep.
I knitted, but needless to say, I didn't do much of anything else besides my surfing, although I had another accident - this is getting monotonous - and I had to clean up and change my clothes after that. I keep forgetting how long it takes me to get out of the house, so I was later leaving than I'd hoped, but I did get to church before choir was supposed to start. Of course, everybody else was there, but they hadn't started singing yet. We practiced for almost two hours, but there is a lot of music to sing. They're singing four numbers on Wednesdays. I decided I'm not going to show up for that - two trips a week is plenty - but we had to practice. I'm not sure how Sunday's number is going to come out; it's a strange one and we still, even though this is the second time we've sung it, haven't gotten it down completely. The roads are clear and almost dry and I got home around 9:15.
My barbecue tasted even better warmed up. It's the simplest possible recipe: the basis is ketchup and water, with a little sugar and vinegar and some chili powder, but it thickens up nicely and it tastes great. A keeper. My grandma cooked the way her mother did, but she was a good cook and she knew how to eat well. My only problem is that some of her recipes that I like best are rather vague by modern standards - like this one, with no apparent oven temperature. I haven't searched out her original recipe, though, and maybe it's just something I missed when I grabbed it back in the '60s. Anyway, I enjoyed it again.
The weather was warm again. The high temperature was 39º, late in the day, and there was a strong south wind that peaked with gusts of 39 mph around 1:00. It was bright-cloudy all day. I guess we're in for some rain and/or snow over the next couple of days, but that's to be expected. After all, this is only mid-March.
I didn't see much of the guys after I got up, but they were both right there when I came home tonight, telling me they did not like me going away and leaving them. Too bad for them. We had the winter together, Now I have to get out and be something other than a hermit again.
I was late enough that I won't be in bed early, but I am going to try not to be anything nearly as late as I was last night. I checked the playlist, and after the Bach gets done, there isn't much I need to hear, except a Beethoven sonata that's so late there is no way I could stay up that long. I'm tired and i need sleep.
So now it's a warm, cloudy night in the field.
March 11 Blame it all on Schubert. I knew I was going to be rather late, because I ate late, and then right after midnight, the radio station announced that they were going to be playing Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" string quartet, which is one of my favorite things and it's been a very long time since I've heard it. So of course it was the last thing they played in that hour, and by that time I was in zombie mode. I finally tore myself away, after hearing some other nice things, but it was late.
I didn't get up until nearly 11:30, and then I finished the first side of the stole, including binding it off, and I got the second side on the needle and did two rows. Getting it on the needle means unzipping the provisional cast on, and I do that one stitch at a time on a very thin needle, just to make sure I've gotten everything. Then I had to place my markers and count several times to make sure it was all right. I guess it would have worked better if I'd started the second side eight rows in on the middle part, but I decided not to get cute. It won't look so good to people sitting behind me, but oh, well. Anyway, I'm on my way to the second side. The first side took me 63 days, I think (I don't remember exactly what I calculated) so I have a way to go before I'm finished. I like the look of the edging very much, and I'm glad I did it. It's a pretty thing. The whole stole is 23" or so wide and 84" or so long, and it only weighs about 5 ounces for the entire piece, so it's nearly weightless, a piece of pale pink fluff.
I didn't do anything else. I've been having a conversation with the author of KABcam, the program I use to control the camera. Ever since I reset the times on Sunday, it hasn't been working right. The start and stop times are way off. So I worked on that a bit, but I was so late that I didn't finish my surfing until after the talking started.
I cooked experimentally tonight, and it turned out pretty good. I have an old recipe of my grandmother's for barbecued pork chops. It has no oven temperature or cooking time, but the sauce sounded pretty good, so after chickening out the last time I had pork, I decided to try it tonight. Things with vinegar and sugar in them make me suspicious, but it turned out good, and the sugar seems to have caramelized pretty well. Before I put the sauce on, I rubbed the chops with one of the herb blends I've gotten from Penzey's Spices. It all turned out well. The center of the chops was quite dry, but I'm sure that's because pork has gotten so much leaner in the 70 years or more since my grandmother was making this dish. Anyway, I think I can say the experiment was a success and I can add this to my list of things to make. The only problem I had is that evidently my lovely rose gold potatoes froze and became inedible, so I had to have rice instead of a nice baked potato. Poo. I don't think the onions froze, so what happened to the potatoes is a mystery.
The weather was nice again. It wasn't as warm as yesterday, though. The high temperature was 37º, for most of the afternoon. It was rather breezy, with gusts up to 27 mph from the north for a while, although lately it's gone calm. By the way, the 51º we had yesterday was a new record for the day. It was partly to mostly clear from 10:00 this morning until 7:00 this evening, and oh, I love all that sunshine! I didn't go out, although I did go out into the breezeway, and it's a lot warmer out there.
The guys slept mostly. I didn't see much of either of them. They didn't get canned food today, because they didn't eat what I gave them yesterday, but I hauled in a 22 lb bag of cat food as well as the last little bag of the one they decided they really like, so they have plenty to eat.
Now I have to go up to the north end and wash my hair, since I expect to go to choir practice tomorrow. I'm late because I forgot I was going to cook something that takes a long time and I wasn't until around 9:00 that I ate. I'm tired again.
Now it's a partly clear, warmish night in the field.
March 10 I'm all tired again. I made it into bed a little after midnight. I slept well, and I got up around 9:30. Sort of a pattern developing. I knitted eight rows on the edging, but that didn't give me a lot of time to do my surfing, and I didn't read my funnies until I got home.
I was a bit later getting away than I'd planned, but it turned out all right, and I was 10 minutes early at the accountant. The roads were much better than I thought they would be. From Delaware south, the road was mostly dry, except for a few places where the melting snow was dripping across it. Houghton is a mess, because they are repairing the bridge, and they will be for the rest of the year - or maybe two years. They have blocked off the direct route from M-26 to the bridge, so all the traffic has to go around on the street that leads toward Marquette. Actually, there is a one-way going down right next to the accountant's office where anyone who knows the area can turn and go back toward the bridge. But it's a mess.
The accountant is a very nice lady, a bit older than I anticipated, but anybody whose name is "Lucinda" is likely to be almost my age or very young. We had a nice conversation and I left her with my stuff. It took about an hour.
Coming home was almost as easy as going down, because I missed the afternoon traffic and the snow on the covered road had almost completely melted. I got behind a couple of people going into the harbor, but they weren't excessively slow. I got home a bit after 4:00.
It was an amazing weather day. The temperature here got up to 51º, briefly, and when I left Houghton, the thermometer in my car read 55º. And to think that a week ago, it was 5º and snowing and blowing like crazy. It was breezy, with gusts up to 27 mph from the north, but that didn't happen until 6:00. It was partly cloudy, and I was glad I had my sunglasses with me. The snow along the roads is all brown and ugly, but away from the roads, it's still nice and white and deep.
The guys were nowhere to be found when I left. I guess they realized I was going and just went away and hid. They've been around since, and Grayson sat on me for a while. Louie tried, but he went away when I didn't invite him onto my lap. I'm afraid Louie ate too much plastic, and he doesn't feel very good. I watch him. I'm sure they enjoyed the warmth in the house.
It was very warm when I came home, from the sun shining on the front of the house. This was the first day when I didn't even consider using the space heater. That's nice. I've been using electricity like it was cheap.
I had my fresh whitefish for dinner tonight and it was so good! Maybe it tasted better because I haven't had any for a while. These were very small filets, and they were wonderful. Grayson didn't think so - he took one sniff and went away without even trying it. He prefers cod. Huh!
So now it's time to go to bed. I'm really tired again and there isn't much of anything to keep me up except reading. It's a clear, warmish night in the field, but it's breezy out there.
March 9 I think it was around 11:00 when I got to bed, and I didn't get up until around 9:00 this morning, but I'm still tired. In fact, I'm so tired that I almost fell asleep in my chair this afternoon. So I will be going up to the north end soon. I need clean hair for my visit to the accountant, and there doesn't seem to be any reason I can't do that tomorrow.
I knitted and I finished the final repeat on the first side of the stole. Now all I have to do is the edging I decided to add to it, and then I can start the second side. This one starts at the middle and goes in both directions, so I have to unzip my provisional cast on and start over. It's going to be big, but I seem to be going with big things lately. It's also going to be very pretty. I love the color and it's very billowy and soft.
Other than that, I didn't do much at all. My lower back has been bothering me for several days, which means I didn't want to move any more than I had to. I tried to sit more upright than I have been, and it feels better now. It has also been quite warm in here, and that helped, too.
It was warm outside, too. The high temperature was 39º, and it was over 35º for most of the afternoon. John Dee says he thinks the arctic freeze is over for this year. There wasn't much wind. It was cloudy for most of the day, although it was beginning to clear up around sunset.
I have been having trouble with the start and stop times for the camera for the past two days. I thought I reset everything yesterday morning, but it was still taking pictures at 9:52 last night, and the first picture this morning was at 8:39. I don't have a clue why. So I reset everything again - twice - and maybe now it will behave itself. I like to get pictures of first and last light, because sometimes there are interesting things going on at those times.
The guys were sort of clingy today. They slept with me in the bathroom, they both got some serious lap time, and when I got up to get dinner, they were both asleep on the desk (I forgot to mention that I cleared off the papers a few days ago, so they have someplace to lie). I don't know why, unless they figure since it's getting warm, I'll be going out more - and they're right; I will. They are funny little critters. Grayson wanted my dinner, but he was content with one piece of lamb.
The lamb was good, but the next time, I can buy less of it. It was pretty good, but I have to say, it didn't have much flavor. I guess the lamb Harbor Haus gets must be aged, because it's much more flavorful. Anyway, it was pretty good, and it was mostly quite tender, which was surprising. If I had to have anything to do with getting any meat, I would immediately become a vegetarian, and I certainly would never eat lamb, but since it's already dead and somebody else butchered it, I feel I can indulge every so often. I think maybe I like it so well because my mother didn't like it, and we very rarely had it. It was always chops, with mashed potatoes and peas, although I just had rice. She didn't like fish very well, either, and except for finnan haddie, she never cooked fish. Period. Never. I don't like finnan haddie, by the way. Too rich. Besides, we always had it with boiled new potatoes, and that is one way I do not like potatoes. We stopped eating it sometime in the '50s, I think. Anyway, this was a good dinner.
So now I will go up to the north end and wash my hair and crash. I don't know why I'm so tired, but wow, am I! It's a dark, warmish night in the field, and maybe, just maybe, the worst of winter is over. I pray.
March 8 I am tired. I don't remember now exactly what kept me, but it included getting the dishwasher ready to run, and I have the feeling something else happened, but I don't know what. Anyway, I was quite a bit later than I wanted to be. And I didn't sleep very well. It was better than I have on other Saturday nights when I thought I might go to church, but that's not saying much. I had to get up at 6:00 EDT, and about the time the alarm went off, I could have gotten into a very deep sleep. But I got up and had my breakfast and I thought I was right on target to get out when I wanted to.
Sigh. I had a very messy accident starting at the door to the bathroom, and after I finished that off and cleaned myself up, I had to try to clean up as much of the floor as I could. I got most of it, but the splatters had dried by that time and it really needs the mop. It was also 8:30 and I had to wash my face, curl my hair and get dressed, as well as make one last pit stop and change my shoes.
So I was later than I wanted to get away and it was snowing or something when I left. I had to follow somebody south of Delaware, and it was one of those situations where the only way I could tell where he was, was from the cloud of snow around his car. I got to church around 10:10 and I had to park sort of in the middle because other people had taken both handicap spots. Oh, well.
Church was nice, and the choir sang something I have never sung and I wished I had. There was communion, which was nice. I had to wait afterwards because somebody else was using the restroom (actually, they have two, but the other one is so small I can't get into it; people must have been smaller in 1890), but that turned out all right. I got a pretty good parking place at Pat's.
Pat's was a real chore. I was tired anyway after all the getting up and sitting down in church and not having enough sleep, and I think it took me over an hour to get everything. I think I got everything I need, but we'll see. I got some yummy stuff to eat this week: lamb chops and fresh whitefish, as well as pork chops and lots of lettuce. My cart was pretty full, but even though I bought two bottles of laundry detergent (it was on sale for less than Walmart has it, and I've been using it like water) and another bottle of JD, my total bill was remarkably modest. It wasn't small, but I think I got a lot for my money.
Then it was off to the gas station. Gas there was $2.389, and I had a coupon for 8¢ a gallon off the first 15 gallons. I can't remember the last time I put over 17 gallons in my tank for about $42. This should help the budget a lot, as long as it lasts. Only a couple of years ago, I think, it was $4.39 a gallon.
Anyway, even though US-41 was clear (but not dry) until Delaware, I got behind a very legal driver who would not go over 55 mph, and then we all got behind a very timid driver on the covered road, so I didn't get home until around 2:30. I unloaded the car into the breezeway, but then I just sat and read for apparently two hours before I hauled everything in and put it all away. It sure is convenient to have that auxiliary ice box at this time of year. Even the frozen stuff was still fine.
I was happy that Grayson didn't think too seriously about going into the breezeway. I guess that last time, when I left him out there for an hour or more, gave him the message. I did have some trouble with Louie and the plastic bags, and then I discovered that while I was gone, he had grabbed one I had in the studio and chewed a big hunk out of it. I'm sure he uses them like outdoor cats use grass, but I'm just not sure plastic grocery bags are good for him.
I got a sandwich (corned beef and Swiss cheese on black rye) that I ate around 5:00, with great attention from Grayson. I don't think corned beef is any better for cats than it is for me, so I didn't give him any. So I will have to wait to have some of my goodies until tomorrow. I'm not going to be up long.
It was a changeable day. Like I said, it snowed this morning, and it was snowing again when I left church, but it stopped, and around 2:00 the temperature got up to 30º before it dropped back, but now it's up there again. It was quite windy when I came home, and I was pleased to notice that even though there was a lot of stuff blowing off the top of the snowbanks down in the culverts (which are about 15' high, I think), it wasn't dropping into the road, so it looks like the road commission did a pretty good job. After that, the wind died down to almost nothing and around 4:30 the clouds went away to the south and it cleared up. It was perfectly clear at sunset and it was pretty over there in the west.
The guys made nuisances of themselves both before I left this morning and after I got home. After I had my accident, Grayson just had to walk into the bathroom, around all the splotches, and then he had to walk in and out several times. I don't know whether he thought I didn't see all that and he was trying to show me, or what, but it was annoying. And he was right around while I was bringing the groceries into the house. Louie was not quite so persistent, but while the bags were on the floor in the kitchen, he started sniffing around them like he was going to take a few more bites. He prefers handles, which is really annoying.
So that was an eventful day and my legs are tired enough that I'm not walking very well. It has taken me long enough to write this that I think I will go up to the north end right after I publish it. I am tired.
Now it's a relatively warm (for this time of year) clear night in the field.
March 7 I'm doing this a bit early tonight, since I have to get up at what is currently 5:30, and that's much too early for me.
I made it into bed not long after midnight last night and I had to miss a Beethoven piano sonata to do it, but I was tired and I wanted to begin to get back on schedule again. I slept well. I was awake around 8:30, but I decided not to get up and it was 11:30 before I finally did.
I knitted, and it looks like it takes me an average of about 11 minutes to do one row. Well, 22 minutes to do a pair of rows is probably more accurate, because except for the rows with nupps, the return rows go a lot faster than the right side ones. Anyway, I'm eight rows away from the end of the first side, except for the edging that I've decided to add. It's getting long, and when the whole thing is done, it will be around 74" blocked. Maybe it will be more, because the directions say to "block aggressively," and that usually means I stretch it out more than the suggested measurements. It doesn't matter much. I'm big enough that I need a long stole or a big shawl. It's nice to be so far along. I decided, after that last humungous thing, that I didn't want to do another triangle shawl for a while. The end is just too many stitches. What's nice about this one is that it has the same number of stitches on every row (well - almost), and the other one I have printed out is just the same. The rest of the items in my queue are still in the computer and I need a printer (ahem) to get them out.
Otherwise, I finally washed the bottoms I soiled this week and I got the dishwasher almost ready to run tonight, so even though I wasn't up for very long, I did accomplish a couple of things.
The weather was warm compared to our recent temperatures, but it was sort of weird. The high temperature, 30º happened between 10:00 and 11:00, and after that it began to go down again. It's about 22º now. That was when the wind switched around to the north and blew rather hard for a little while. It was around 18 mph all afternoon, although it's died down now. Between 7:00 and 9:00, we had a little snow squall, with measurable liquid. When I was up around 8:30, there was less than an inch on the garage roof, and by the time I got up, it was all gone, so it wasn't much of an event. It was partly to mostly cloudy all day. I apologize for the camera, but somehow I managed to turn it off last night, so we didn't get any pictures before 1:45. Not that a new snow squall would look much different from any other.
The guys slept, of course. Grayson was on my lap after breakfast and he almost caused me to have another accident - well, I did, but not a bad one, because I was able to make it to the bathroom fairly fast. Louie spent a long time on my lap later on, and for once he moved before I had to move him. They both have a hard time understanding why I don't do exactly the same things, at the same times, every day, so they have to hang around to see what I'll do this time.
So that was a truncated day, and I must say I feel pretty tired. I am going up to the north end after I publish this and try to get to bed early. I may not sleep, but I can try. If right now is any indication, I will be sleeping. And I'll be up at 6:30 EDT tomorrow. Ugh!
Now it's a cloudy night in the field, but it won't be dark, because the moon is still nearly full.
March 6 I guess last night I was just so tired I didn't want to get up and go to bed, so I didn't, and I was ridiculously late again. I got up around 10:30, though, and I knitted my eight rows. I had problems with one side panel and I had to fiddle around for quite a while before I got all the stitches in their proper places. Unfortunately, that means there are some stitches that have pulled out of shape, but I'll just have to hope that time and "aggressive blocking" will fix them.
I was still planning to go to town, but then, right about the time I was getting ready to leave, I had an accident, and a nasty one, and by the time I cleaned up after that, I was too exhausted to go. So I guess, early hour or not, I have to go to church Sunday, and to the store and to the gas station. Oh, well, I have to get back into the swing of things eventually, and the weather seems to be going to mitigate enough that I won't have any excuses. Ron says the road is in good shape, so I guess our money was worth it.
It was a nice day today. It started out cloudy, but by 11:30 or so it was clearing up and the afternoon was sunny. The temperature got up to 28º, where it still is. I think that's the warmest it's been in a couple of months. It was breezy, and the gusts are now up to 25 mph, but the sun and warmer temps have undoubtedly crusted over the snowbanks, and I doubt there will be much drifting unless we have some new snow. There might be some of that, but it's not certain and it isn't likely to be much. I was sorry not to get out. I need to sniff the fresh air.
The guys mostly slept. Louie got some lap time, until I had to type, but Grayson just hung around and didn't sit on me today. When I went out into the kitchen with my breakfast tray, they were both lying in the shaft of sunshine that was coming in the patio door, which meant that Louie was lying right across the kitchen doorway. He makes a much better door than a window. Grayson did go up to the north end with me when I had to clean up after my accident, which was nice of him. I still say people who think cats don't like their people don't know anything about cats and should be totally ignored.
So now I am exhausted and I need to go to bed. There are two reasons why that might not happen: Brahms' Third and I finally figured out my way forward on Trine 6, but that will mean I have to rewrite parts of it and I have a whole new section to write. Not tonight, please. I think I know where I'm going now, so I don't have to push it right away. That's a relief. It's why I've been fooling around with all those other stories for the last few weeks.
So now it's a dark, warmish (for early March) night in the field and I think it's clear out.
March 5 For some reason, I just didn't go to bed last night. I was reading and it was interesting, so I guess that the reason, so it was a ridiculous hour this morning when I finally went to bed. Then around 7:30, I got a call from the foreman from the Road Commission and we talked about the road. He quoted me what I thought was a very reasonable price to do our job, and then I went back to sleep. Around 10:30, I got another call, from the boss, saying that the foreman was out in my yard waiting for me. So I put on my robe and slippers and let him in and paid the bill. Ron doesn't seem to be very happy about the job they did, but I think anything is better than what we had. At least I can get in and out now.
I had to call Ron and tell him the road was open, and then I toyed with the idea of going back to bed, but instead I did my knitting. I am going to bed tonight. I have to wash my hair, and I am really, really tired.
I didn't do much else for the afternoon, but for once I was nearly finished with my surfing when the talking started.
The weather was cold but nice. It actually got down to -6º around the time I was talking to the foreman, but it warmed up quickly when the sun got up and the high temperature was 12º, for a few hours this afternoon. There was some wind, from the north, and of course it was after the road was cleared, but evidently it didn't do any harm. It was partly to mostly clear, with lots of lovely sunshine.
The guys mostly slept. While I was knitting, they slept in the bathroom, but later they slept in the great room, in the patches of sunshine. Now Grayson wants to sit on me. Louie hasn't even asked today.
So I guess the day turned out all right, but I'm so tired I have a headache. I'm thinking about going into town tomorrow and do my food shopping and get gas, but I'll have to see how I feel. I would wait until Sunday, but we go on Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, and I'm not sure whether I'm going to be able to get up at 5:30 (my time). So I think it would be better to go tomorrow when I'm sure I can get out and that's the only task I have to do. I thought about going Tuesday, too, but I've offered to take Ron to town, and I don't want to try to do too many things in one trip. So we'll see.
When I went to get some dinner, Venus was shining brightly in the west and the moon is full tonight (or it was last night, I'm not sure) so it will be a bright, beautiful night. Now it's a clear, cold night in the field. And I'm not snowbound anymore.
March 4 Well, the best laid plans, and all that.
I didn't get to bed until around 2:30, for one reason or another (one being that I had a nasty accident and had to clean up after it, and another being that I had to wash my hair). I set the alarm for 10:00, and it was good that I did, although I was up to my old tricks and I woke up a couple of minutes before it went off. I didn't knit and I got dressed and had my breakfast, which took more time than I thought it would. I got dressed to go out, but fortunately I waited until Ron got to the post office and called him to ask about the road.
It was a good thing I did. He informed me that there was a 7' drift in the culverts and I wasn't going anywhere. Well. That was not what I had planned for the day. So I called the accountant and rescheduled my appointment, then I went up to the north end and knitted my eight rows.
While I was there, I started thinking about the road. Ron was very negative when I talked to him, and he seemed sure we wouldn't get out until the end of the month. Well, I can't stand for that. I have to get out. I need to shop, I need to get to the accountant, and I need to see the doctor and the garage, not to mention Johanna and the store, which has a package that was too heavy for him to carry. So I called the road commission. I was slightly surprised that they seemed quite open to helping us out, and somebody is going to be by tomorrow to check out the situation and report back. I still have my fingers crossed, but it looks like we may be able to get them to open the road for us. I don't want to call on them too often, but this is sort of an emergency. Of course, we will have to pay them, time and material, but I'm hoping that won't be too much.
Then I sat and did my surfing and not much else for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't work on the printer. It's not going to go away and I didn't feel like inhaling isopropyl alcohol for the afternoon. Tomorrow, maybe, since it's clear that even though it's supposed to warm up some, I won't be going to choir practice.
The weather today was frigid and windy. The high for the day (not including midnight, when it was 12º) was 5º. The highest wind gusts were at midnight, 43 mph from the north, but it was windy all day, with gusts getting up to 35 mph. The clouds alternated with nearly clear skies, and with the clouds came a couple of nasty squalls, although they didn't last long. So the lake effect machine hasn't completely shut down. We might have had a couple of inches of snow yesterday and not more than an inch today. The problem was the wind. Well, I just checked with the county website and there was 7" up at Delaware. I'm pretty sure we didn't get that much, but oh, well.
The running total for the season is now 234", which is right on target to be normal. The trouble is, it's been spotty. We had 63" in November, 68" In January and 63.5" in February, but only 29" in December. I'm sure we'll get some more in March, but I'm hoping it's not a lot.
The guys mostly slept, and they didn't get much lap time, although Grayson just got off my lap so I could type. Louie only came around while I was on the phone, so I had to shoo him away. They both seem to feel good, though. Grayson had to say hi to Ron when he came with my mail, of course.
So that was not the day I planned on, but I it was cold enough out that I was just as glad not to have been out in it. Now it's a partly cloudy, frigid night in the field and I'm going to bed. I didn't get enough sleep last night.
March 3 I think it was about the same time last night when I got to bed and I slept. It was cloudy by the time I went to bed, but the moon is nearing full, so it was light outside. I will note in passing that both times when I was up during the night, I forgot my cane, and I didn't have any trouble at all, so I guess my knees are finally getting back into shape. Now it's my shoulders that are bothering me - both of them. If it's not one damn thing it's another.
I got up around 8:45 and I knitted. While I was sitting there, it started snowing hard, although at the time there was hardly any wind so big flakes were coming almost straight down.
One of the tasks of the day was to get my tax stuff together, and I finally got that done.
The other thing was to work on the printer. One of my readers suggested that my problem might be that the print head was clogged, so I opened up the printer and started working on it with cotton swabs and alcohol. I worked and worked on it as much as I could, but when I tried it, it was still broken, so I went out to the HP website and followed their directions. That was how I discovered, finally, how to remove the print head from the printer, and I swabbed and swabbed on it. I was amazed and annoyed by how dirty it was and how much ink was all over it, including in places were there should be no ink. That didn't do anything. They said that it meant the print head was bad - what I sort of feared from the beginning - and I should get a new one.
Well. HP won't sell those to the public anymore (the printer is only 3 years old), so I followed some of the links they suggested, and I discovered that most of them evidently don't sell to the public. One did, but they wanted $74 for the part, and when I tried to buy it, I discovered that they were charging $20 for shipping. Gads! For that price, I can just about buy a new printer! And the person I was chatting with at the website said that's just what HP wants me to do.
So I decided that was what I had to do and I went out to Amazon to see what's available. In the course of doing that, I discovered that they have a seller for the part, at a much reduced price, and besides, there was a review from someone who suggested soaking the head in alcohol for 10 minutes. Huh. Someone else suggested soaking it in warm water. Huh. It was getting late, though, so before I buy the new print head, I will try both of those fixes. I'm pretty sure the thing is broken, but I'll give it a try before I spend any money.
My other ploy was to see if possibly other colors would print, and they do, so I was able to print off all the stuff I need, using mostly blue ink. What I haven't been able to do is copy the three documents I need to enclose with some of the letters. By the time I printed what I could it was getting dark, so I had to suspend activity. I was only wondering why, if the ink will run on paper when it gets wet, it's so hard to wash off my fingers. Well, I have to wash my hair tonight, so that should get my hands clean.
By the way, not only does HP want you to buy a new print head, they want you to buy all new ink cartridges - about $100 worth. I just changed those cartridges a little while ago, and I don't want to throw away any good ones. The people I read on Amazon said they used their old ones quite successfully. It makes me sad. When I was in the business, HP had a reputation for being very reputable and user friendly. It seems clear they've sold out to the almighty dollar. Too bad.
It was a good day to keep busy inside. It started snowing around 9:00 and it was still snowing when it got dark, although there was a letup between 4:00 and 5:30. The high temperature was 27º - a heat wave! - but it's begun to plunge already and it's supposed to be very cold tomorrow. There wasn't much wind while it was snowing and it was from the southwest, but now it's switched around to the north and already we've had some gusts up to 36 mph. Well, I'll just have to go out tomorrow, no matter what.
The guys were mostly sleepy. Louie wanted to spend the afternoon on my lap, until I had to shoo him away so I could work on the printer, and then he came back and got into the middle of things while I was working on the printer. Grayson mostly stayed away until dinner, and then he wanted some of my fish, which he ate, and then he went away again.
So now I think I will try to do as much as I can to get together the stuff I have to mail and maybe read a bit before I go up to the north end and take a bath. It's a dark, snowy night in the field. Winter isn't over yet.
March 2 I guess it was about 12:30 when I got to bed last night and I slept fairly well. Maybe it was that it was warmer in the bedroom than I'm used to. I got up around 9:15 and I knitted.
The task of the day was first, to get some envelopes ready to send and go to the post office and the store, and then to work on the rest of the ledger. Well, the best laid plans and all that. When I tried to print out a letter I had to send - nothing came out! Eek! After a lot of fooling around, it seems like the black ink in my printer will not print. I tried two cartridges, so it isn't that. Also, the cartridges won't align. Oh, dear. So right now, the printer is off and I have a whole lot of stuff I have to either print or copy that I can't. I will fiddle with it tomorrow again, but it really looks like my lightly-used, three-year-old printer may be dead, or nearly so. I am not pleased. I'm also up a creek. There are some things I really need to copy! Arrgghh!! A printer should last longer than that.
So I went back to the ledgers and I have everything together - but I can't print it out! At least that part of it is done. Tomorrow I will try to get everything organized, and if I can't print what I need for the accountant, I can write it out. I'm pretty much up to date with the 2015 ledger, too, although I forgot and zapped what I did yesterday, so I had to do it over again. I did find out that those trips to Green Bay and my new glasses really did a number on my finances. I've been trying to be careful, but I have a hard time undoing what gets done. Sigh.
The weather was nice again. It was partly cloudy overnight, and when I was awake around 3:00, the gibbous moon was shining in the windows so brightly that I had to cover my head to keep it out of my eyes. It was clear all day today, too, with lots of blue sky and sunshine. The high temperature got to 22º, briefly around 5:00 but then it plunged back to 13º at 8:00 before it recovered a bit. It was breezy until 7:00 this evening, when it went calm. I guess that is the calm before the storm. We are under a winter weather advisory from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM tomorrow, and there could be some significant snow. How much depends upon whose weather forecast you believe. Well, it's not spring yet.
The guys mostly slept. The guys weren't interested in sitting on me until this evening, when I was busy either eating or writing. They like the sunshine and they sort of followed it around all day.
So now I think I may write a bit again. I reread Special Forces over the weekend, and it got me thinking about the sequel I had written a few words of a while ago. I wrote a few more words last evening and some more tonight, but I'm not sure where it's going yet, if anywhere.
So it's a cold, clear night in the field, but the snow is coming...the snow is coming...sigh.
March 1 Oh, I forgot that I have to move the old journal tonight.
With one thing and another, it was 12:30 before I made it into bed last night. I was exhausted, and I slept very well, with two wakeups. I got up around 10:00, I think. I knitted, of course, so that made me late.
I did my surfing and then I started fishing around for all the envelopes on the computer desk and trying to make some sense of them. I need to get all the credit card bills together so I can find out how much I spent on pills (and other stuff, although that's not as important) and the trips to Green Bay. In the course of doing that, I discovered, to my dismay, that I hadn't put aside the acknowledgement for my winter taxes, which the mortgage company wants. Sigh. So I had to go through the huge pile on the desk. Not a bad thing, but it took a while. It took up a whole barrel when I got it into place, and it appears that that was not only all of 2014 but a few things left over from 2013. Geez! One of these years I need to do some filing. Anyway, I think I found everything I need to send to the mortgage company, get my tax information together and pay some bills tomorrow. I need to go to bed soon so I have time to do all that. The tax information will take the longest, because in most cases, I have to go back to Amazon and find out which items were pills and which weren't. I hate all this, which is why I always put it off for so long. I am not a file clerk. When I was in middle school and they were testing us for aptitude, I always aced everything except the clerical test, which I flunked. Unfortunately, I'm not independently wealthy and I can't afford a personal assistant to take care of all that junk, so every so often, I have to do it myself, usually sometime in March when I need to get my taxes done. Sigh.
The weather was rather interesting. Sometimes it was cloudy and sometimes the sun was shining and between 4:00 and 5:00 this afternoon we had a rather heavy snow squall. The temperature got up to 24º - balmy by recent standards. There was not much wind except during the squall and now, when the gusts have gotten up to around 20 mph. It evidently cleared up after sunset. I just checked the last picture, and besides a snowmobiler coming down the mountain, Venus was shining in the west, just inside the camera view. Lights all over the place.
The guys slept, of course. Louie got a long time on my lap while I was surfing, but Grayson didn't come around when I could accommodate him.
Now I have to go to bed soon, so I can get right to work tomorrow. I would like to finish the fifth repeat on the shawl, but that depends on when I get up.
Now it's a rather warm (for us lately), breezy night in the field and I'm tired.
Last updated 04/01/15 10:40 PM |