journal

A View From the Field

January 21

Oh, I inverted again, and I didn't get enough sleep, so I hope I won't do it again. I keep trying to get little enough sleep that I have to go to bed, but so far, it hasn't worked very well.

I finally had to move my knitting to a different bag. My little bag was getting very full, and I didn't want to take anything out of it, so I got a bigger one. I thought it was too big, but it's full. This bag has a pocket on the outside where I can put the phone so it doesn't get lost inside. Now I can carry lots of stuff from the north end to the south end and back.

I knitted and I have only about six rows left before I start the toe. I should be able to finish the sock tomorrow. I decided which red yarn I want to work on first and what pattern I want to use, so I can start a new pair right away.

This is a pattern I used several years ago, but it was out of that yarn that turned out to be defective. It was a summer yarn, and I don't think I've worn those socks that much, but they are wearing through, much to my dismay. I like those socks - my tutti-fruiti socks. The yarn is basically very pale pink, but it has red, purple and yellow dots in it - the maker called it "Fruit Salad." The only thing I didn't like about them is that I made the feet too long, but that was minor. I haven't located the remainder of the yarn yet, but if I do, i may try to darn them, because I really like them.

Anyway, I like the pattern, too. They called the pattern "niblets" and it is sort of gnarly, but it will be good for a yarn which is almost but not quite all one color. The color name is "Burmese Ruby" so it's quite dark, but it's still red, not cranberry. I like it a lot - I have a sweatshirt sweater that is close to the same color. It will also be nice to work on something that isn't plain knitting. So I'll have something other than the #1 socks to work on. It's not that I don't like making socks on #1 needles, it's just that most of my yarn that works on that size needle isn't very inspiring, even though the dyer named this one "Sublime," I wouldn't call it that, but it's OK and I will eventually get to those socks.

The weather was amazingly nice. The high temperature was (is) 18º, and there was no wind. It was cloudy in the morning, but it began to clear up around 10:00 AM, and the afternoon was clear and sunny - very nice! I will take all the solar heat I can get! However (there's always a "but," isn't there?) we are under a winter weather advisory for the next 24 hours or so, and the NWS says the worst of the snow will be over the Keweenaw...We'll see about that, but it is going to snow and maybe blow.

The guys got lots to eat today, and they got some loving. Louie got his when I got up and Grayson got to sleep on my lap for a while, although twice he went away in disgust because I was moving. He seems unclear on the concept that he is not sleeping on a pillow when he settles down on my lap, even though I do sort of feel like one.

So now maybe I can go to bed? I was planning to go to the post office and the store tomorrow, but we'll see how the snow goes. Someone (Dave, probably) cleaned my driveway this morning, so I'm all ready for the next snowfall. I hope I can get out. I need to see my mail, and I'm running out of JD. We'll see.

Now it's a cold, dark night in the field, but I don't know if it's clouded up yet.

January 20

It was an inverted day, and that's all I'll say about it. I had hoped to get to bed early tonight, but I ended up not eating my second meal until around 11:00, so I won't.

I finished the heel of the sock and started on the gusset before I got dressed. Then, right before I had my daily accident, Debbie called me to say she would call back after she had dinner, so when I had my accident, I went up to the north end with the sock and my phone - the land line - and headset. We ended up talking for four hours, so while we were talking, I finished the gusset and got a good start on the foot of the sock. I guess I can say it wasn't a totally wasted day, just almost.

I was glad I'd decided not to go out. It snowed all day, although you won't see it in the camera archive, because it hung up around 10:30 AM and I didn't discover it until around 4:00 PM. I don't think you missed anything - just a lot of pictures of white nothing. The "high" temperature finally got to 10º at midnight (it's Monday already); it was 3º for most of the morning, and around 5:00 AM, the wind gusts got to 45 mph. That would put the wind chill way below 0º, so it was a good day to hibernate, and we did.

I've been taking pictures of guys sleeping, particularly Louie, who sleeps more than any other cat I've ever had. Tomorrow I'm going to upload the latest pictures and maybe publish them - I have some cute ones - and I'm going to try to figure out how to download some of my picture library to the iPhone, so I can use some of them as my background. We'll see how that works.

Anyway, they slept, although Grayson was being a snot all day. I don't know what his problem was, but he was acting out all day. He even kicked my cane over. Louie slept, I think in the bathroom. He sometimes gets grumpy, but he takes it out on Grayson. I don't think he would ever act out, it's just not in his nature. I only wish he was as nice to Grayson as he is to me.

So it was a really useless day, and now it's late and I have a headache. When I finally went to get my dinner, the beautiful moon was shining in one of the eastern windows, but I couldn't see the eclipse because it happened right over my head, and I was not going out in this weather to look at it. The last time I did that - sometime in the early 2000s on Champine - I nearly froze my tail off before it clouded up and I could go in, and it wasn't nearly as cold as it is tonight. Every eclipse is different, and I like to see them, but not under these circumstances. It was partly cloudy anyway and it may have clouded up before the event started.

Now it's a frigid, partly to mostly cloudy night in the field.

January 19

I got waylaid by a crafty iPhone last night, so I was a lot later than I intended, but I got up late, too, so I thought I would be all right, but no. I'm really tired now. I ate my first meal late enough that even though it was a small one, I didn't eat dinner until around 10:00, so it's a good thing I'd decided not to go out tomorrow, because I couldn't.

I was so late that I didn't do anything except knit. I finished the leg and did half of the heel flap, so I'm making progress. I'm making enough progress that I'm thinking about what I want to do next. I have the sock on the #1 needles, and it's pretty, but I'm thinking about red yarn, and if I can decide which red yarn I want to use, I may well do those next. I want to look at the yarn in daylight, but I forgot about it today.

The weather is still frigid. The high temperature was 11º, and that was between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. It went down after that, and it 's now 5º. The wind chill was below 0º all day, and it's now -15º. The wind is still from the northeast, and while it died down for a while, it's picked up again, with gusts as high as 31 mph. It snowed lightly all day, sometimes harder than others, but I don't think we picked up too much accumulation. Well, this is normal January weather around here, so we should be used to it. I'm glad to hunker down.

So are the guys. They slept. I think Louie was mostly up at the north end, where it's warmer, although I found him in the middle of the seating area in the great room. Grayson slept on me for a while, and then he moved to the sewing chair, where he is now. It surprises me that he likes it there, because the towels and fleece on that chair is the stuff that got all wet when I had one of my worst bladder overflows, and it must still smell. Of course, it smells like me, and maybe that's why he's OK with it.

So that was another day, and now it's time to totter up to the north end and do my thing. It's a frigid, dark, windy, snowy night in the field. Ah, January!

January 18

Well, I was a bit later than I wanted to be last night, but it didn't matter. When I got up this morning and looked out the front windows, I immediately knew I wouldn't be going anywhere. I couldn't see anything. So now it will be a month before I can (hopefully) get my tooth fixed, but after I discovered that it was 8º and going down, there was no way I was going out.

So I knitted, and I counted rows - at least ten times. The lighting wasn't good, and the mottled yarn made it difficult to see, and so did my eyes. I frequently wake up in the morning with so few tears that my eyes are all gluey and I can't see clearly. I used some drops, but they didn't help my acuity very much. I think I finally got it right and put a marker after 50 rows before I went on, so now I have fewer than 20 rows to go before I start the heel. I played solitaire a bit, too, so I was late, but I didn't have anything to do except for all the things I haven't been doing for the past three months. Oh, and I managed not to have an accident today.

The weather was, um, wintry. Very wintry. As I said, the temperature when I got up was 8º, but the wind was from the north-northeast at 24 mph with 40 mph gusts. The wind began to die down a bit after that, but so did the temperature, and between noon and 3:00 PM, it was 5º, and at noon the wind chill was -17º. No way was I going out in that!! The temperature has risen marginally since then and the wind is dying down some, but it's still frigid and there have been several more lake effect squalls. They didn't show up on the camera because it hung up for a while. Sorry.

The cats did what any good cat would do in this weather: they found a warm spot and slept. Grayson's spot was on my lap. I don't know where Louie hung out, but I think it was probably in the bathroom, which, fortunately, is nice and warm.

It was 61º in the studio when I got here this afternoon, but my little space heater is working fine, and by keeping the door partly closed, I've been able to keep it warm. The great room is always frigid in the winter, so I ignore that. When the hot water out of the tap steams in the kitchen, i know it's cold in there.

So that was all there was, and I'm tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I knew I wouldn't sleep if I'd stayed in bed this morning. No such problems tonight. Now it's a dark, windy, frigid night in the field and a good one to hunker down. The nearly full moon is making it light enough to see the cats, which is a good thing. And of course, we won't get to see the eclipse, not that I'm surprised by that. It's always cloudy when something happens in the sky that I might want to see,

January 17

Oh, dumb. I was reading last night, so I was very late. I slept, of course, but I got up around 10:30 and I didn't get very much sleep. I knitted for a long time and played solitaire for a while, then I talked to the dentist's office and to Mary Ann, so I was late eating my first meal and late eating dinner. The sock is coming well.

I was so late last night that I had already decided I wasn't going to Laurium tonight, and Mary Ann agreed with me, since some of the weather forecasts said snow. And wouldn't you know, almost as soon as I hung up with her, I looked outside, and it was snowing rather hard. That lasted for quite a while, and from the last camera picture, it seems like there was another squall after it got dark.

I didn't do anything else, except change my underwear and do my surfing.

The temperature overnight was 15º, and the temperature after noon was 21º - no variation, except between 11:00 and 1:00 when it was going up. Weird. It is a bit cooler now, about 20º. There was almost no wind. So it snowed some and it 's cold. We agreed that we're not going to church on Sunday, because it's supposed to be even colder then.

I told the dentist I would be there tomorrow, but it all depends upon how it looks when I get up. I would really like to go. I need to get my tooth fixed and I need to shop for food, although I think I'm OK for another week there. But I'm not going to drive 100 miles if it's snowing. So we'll see.

The guys were sleepy. Louie got most of his loving when I went back to the bathroom to change my bottoms. Grayson got to sleep on my lap as long as he wanted. He thought he wanted some of my breakfast and my dinner, but if so, I don't know what he wanted. It wasn't ham. Maybe it was cheese or toast. He sometimes licks what I give him but doesn't eat it, which means I can't eat it either, and that annoys me. He's a funny little cat. Louie is more conventional.

So it was another quiet day, I didn't do anything, and now it's a dark, snowy night in the field.

January 16

Oh, my! It was noisy around here last night! At 11:00, the wind was blowing at 41 mph sustained with 54 mph gusts, which is a real gale. That was the peak, but it was windy and noisy all night long, between the roaring of the lake and the howling and banging of the wind. I slept fairly well.

I got up around 9:30, and I knitted. I finished the ribbing and started the leg of the second brown sock, but then I got hooked by the iPhone again, so I was late eating and I didn't have time to do anything but my surfing. I didn't get the bulletin out until the end of the talking. It wasn't hard, but I had some problems fitting everything in, since there were quite a few special announcements. Well, it's a nice puzzle.

The weather today was better, but frigid. It was snowing when I got up, but by the time I got dressed, there was a little sunshine. The "high" was at midnight, and it was around 10º all day. The wind has now gone calm. There were a few rays of sunshine, but mostly all those puffy, leaden gray clouds. Ah, winter!

The guys slept. Grayson gave up a small hairball this morning and I think he still has a tummy ache, but he got to sleep on me for quite a while this afternoon. I think Louie is still in the bathroom - it's warmer there.

So that was all there was. Now it's a dark, frigid night in the field.

January 15

I was later than I intended last night, but I was reading, and you know how that goes. I slept fairly well, at least until early in the morning, and I didn't get up until about 10:30. I knitted, and I finished the first sock and cast on the second one. That meant that I was very late eating my first meal and I didn't do anything else. Oh, well. After so many years when I had to so something every day, I still haven't gotten over not having to do anything at all most of the time.

The weather was nondescript, at least until late in the day when it erupted. Sometime between 4:00 and 5:00, the wind shifted from west to north and picked up to 32 mph gusts, and it started doing something. Since at the time the temperature was around freezing and there were raindrops on the window, I guess it was raining. The temperature has now dropped to 30º and the wind has risen to 32 mph sustained with 44 mph gusts. Since it's from the north, I haven't heard it much yet, but I'm sure the lake is singing loudly, and I'm sure there is some snow in that wind. It was cloudy all day, but for most of the time, it was quite bright.

The guys slept. They both got their loving and Grayson got to sit on my lap for as long as he wanted, because I did not have any violent urges to jump up and run away. I can understand why it confuses his little mind, because it confuses mine, too.

So that was it. Now it's a dark, cold, very windy and probably snowy night in the field and maybe I can get to bed a bit earlier tonight?

January 14

Oh my, I was tired last night! I was in bed shortly after 8:30 and I didn't get up until 9:30 this morning. Of course, I was up several times, but only long enough to visit the bathroom, and I went right back to sleep. I'm tired again, too, so I will be going up to the north end soon, but I have to wash my hair. They're playing Barber's Adagio right now, though, so I have to listen to that. if you don't know it, go find it. It is one of the most sublime pieces of music I know. Oh, and there is a choral version, called Agnus dei.

I ended up spending most of the day knitting, I think. I knitted on the brown sock for a long time, and I have only a few more rows to go before the toe. Then, after breakfast, I had a really nasty accident that ended up making me change everything I had on, so while I was back up in the bathroom, I worked on the Valentine sock, and I'm close to starting the heel on that. All it meant was that after I finished my surfing, there wasn't any time to do anything before the talking started.

I did make rice, but that was about all I did.

The weather was nondescript. The high temperature for the day was at 7:00 this morning - 34º - but it went down and it was about 32º for most of the day. There was a bit of north wind, between 10 and 15 mph. It was very cloudy and dark, and when I got up there was a bit of snow, but not enough to register at the weather station. Blah.

The guys thought so, too. They got their loving, but otherwise they slept.

So that was all there was and now it's a dark, cold night in the field again.

January 13 - The Baptism of Our Lord

Well, I got to bed at 9:30, like I wanted to, although I didn't fill the pill dispensers, and they still aren't filled, but it was a bad night. I didn't get any deep sleep, and it felt like I hardly slept at all. I got up when the alarm went off, and I would have gotten away when I wanted except that I discovered that the reason the garage door wouldn't close on Friday was that there was snow over the sensor. That has happened before, but not quite like this.

It seems like that blizzard we had a week or so ago that came in from the south had winds so strong that snow came into the garage around the edges and under the center of the door. I have snow in my garage. I really should get someone to come and replace all the weather-stripping.

Anyway, I wasn't too late getting to church and I got to practice the song, which turned out to be an easy one. Good thing, too, because I'd never heard it before. It went off well. Before church, I zipped (well - as zippy as I can get) downstairs to the restroom, and oh, was I glad I did! Everything let loose, and if I hadn't gone then, I probably would have to have gone in the middle of the service.

It was so good to be in church again! I'm so sorry that I missed seeing all the Christmas decorations, but hey, I didn't choose the weather.

I had planned to do some shopping after church, but when it was over, I was so sore and so tired that I decided it would be better to just come home. I did, and while I was sitting in the powder room playing solitaire, i actually almost went to sleep. It was better after I had something to eat, but I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon, I didn't have my shrimp for dinner, and as soon as this is uploaded and the backup is done, I'll be in bed. I don't feel good.

The road was terrible all the way to Mohawk. There were two tracks on each side that looked like they might be down to pavement, but it wasn't clear if it was, and I noticed that headlights on the other side were causing it to shine - like ice. So I had to go slowly. Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic, although I did have to pass a guy on the way down. We Copper Harborites are are very disappointed in the way the county is taking care of the northern part of the road this year.

The weather was actually pretty good. It was very cold this morning - down to 4º or so - but eventually it warmed up to 30º for the latter part of the afternoon. There wasn't much wind. It actually got partly cloudy late in the afternoon, and we had a bit of sunshine for a while. There were some very pretty skies late in the day, which I didn't keep, because I would have had to keep a dozen shots or more. They're nice to look at, if you do it in the next day or so. We've only gained about 20 minutes in day length, most of it at night, so the sun is still rising very late and setting very early. Actually the picture I did keep was from 8:45 this morning. The rising sun was hitting the east side of Brockway and turned it bloody red for a few minutes. It's a really neat shot.

The guys were sleepy, too. Grayson got to sleep on me for most of the afternoon, and Louie was wherever Louie goes. My problem with them was last night. I was up any number of times, and I had a terrible time finding where Louie was in the bathroom. I didn't step on him again, but only because I hauled out my flashlight so I could see. No, I do NOT turn on lights at night. They destroy my night adaptation, and I wanted to see the stars.

There were some stars, although I didn't see Orion. The north and northwest were clear, but it looked to me like there were clouds in the west and southwest. I did see Polaris, though, and the two stars at the other end of the Little Dipper. I missed the Pleiades, but early this morning, I did see Castor and Pollux. It's a real treat to see any stars at all at this time of year.

So that was my day, and now I'm off to crash. It's a cool, dark night in the field, and I don't think there will be any stars tonight.

January 12

I went to bed at a reasonable hour last night - 10:45, I think - and except for an hour or so in the middle, I slept fairly well. I got up around 9:45, so I guess I had enough sleep, and I feel better than i did yesterday, but I still hurt and walking and standing are painful. I am going to try hard to get to church tomorrow, and probably to shop afterwards, but we'll see how that goes. It depends upon how I feel when I get up.

I knitted, and I finished the gusset and started the rest of the foot, so I knitted for a long time, and as a result, I didn't have much time to do anything else. Today was pill dispenser day. The ones at the south end are full, and I will do the ones at the north end when I go up there. I sure wish I didn't have to take so much stuff, but that's how it is when one gets old.

I washed a load of bottoms, which are ready for the dryer. I was supposed to wash the top I'm wearing, but I forgot, so I'll just wear the dirty one. I like this top. It's heavy, and it isn't sweatshirt fleece. I don't know what to call it, but it's thick and very warm. It has a standing collar and, best of all, it has pockets! I had to go out into the breezeway to get some of the stuff that i picked up yesterday and when I came in, both pockets were full of everything from pills and cat food to an orange. I actually like the lighter weight one better in that respect, because it has a kangaroo pocket, but this one is much warmer.

The weather was nondescript. There wasn't any sunshine, but it only snowed a little bit around the time I got up. The temperature was nearly steady around 26º all day, although now it's dropped to 21º. I guess there may be some clear skies tonight, so it will probably get very cold. It was cloudy, and there wasn't much wind. Curiously enough, all the ice that was at this end of the harbor yesterday is gone now. It was cold enough that I don't know where it went, although I guess the water is warmer than the air, and with no wind, I suppose that's why the ice melted.

The guys were very sleepy. Louie seems to have spent the day in the bathroom. At least he was there wehen I went back to change my bottoms. Grayson was frustrated. I wouldn't let him sit on me, so finally he went to sleep on the pile of old flannel nighties outside the studio door. He did get to sit for a while, later, but apparently it wasn't enough for him, because he was being bad while I was making my dinner. Too bad about him.

So it was another very quiet day, and now it's a cold, dark night in the field. I will be going north right away, and we'll see if I make it to church tomorrow.

January 11

Ugh. I think I got to bed at a semi-reasonable hour last night (1:00 AM, maybe? I don't remember.) but I did not sleep well. I thought my Tylenol was in my handful of pills, but it sure didn't feel like it. I hurt all over all night, to the extent that I didn't sleep well at all except for the last three hours or so. Well, that happens, too. It was very humid last night, and that may have been the problem.

I knitted on the sock, and I finished the heel and started the foot, so that's coming along fine. I was late enough that the only other thing I did was go to the post office and the store, where there was a package.

The weather was, um, wintry, but it did warm up a lot. The temperature is now up to 26º, and there was no wind. However, it snowed lightly almost all day. Not all of it registered, but the report is 0.06" of liquid precip. If that resulted in more than 1" of new snow, I'd be surprised. It was fine, heavy snow that came straight down.

The guys slept, of course. Louie got his loving and Grayson got to sleep on my lap for quite a while. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, but after having peace in the house for some time, now they are going after each other. I finally got the other bag of cat food into the house, and we'll see how much they eat. It was too cold when I brought it in, but it should have warmed up by now.

So now it's a dark, cold night in the field, probably snowy, and I'm tired. To bed, then.

January 10

Late, as usual, but I have clean hair and other things. It was one of those nights when I slept so soundly I didn't know I'd been asleep at all when my bladder called and I came to.

I knitted, and I got to about half of the heel flap on the brown sock. It will throw the pattern off, but it's not a very well-defined pattern anyway, so it doesn't matter a lot. It actually doesn't matter much anyway, since my socks are either in my shoes or under my pants and all anybody usually sees is a little bit around my ankles.

Mary Ann and I had our weekly chat and we agreed not to go out tonight. They did go to church last Sunday - Bill thought he was on duty - and she said the covered road was just as bad as I feared it would be. It seems like the Road Commission isn't doing nearly as good a job on the road as they used to. We don't know why.

It was another very cold day. The high temperature was only 18º and that was overnight. It was about 17º all day. The wind finally died down around noon, and now it's nearly calm. It was cloudy all day, but not as dark as the past days, and when I went to get some dinner, there was a little crescent moon hanging over the Mountain Lodge. It was sort of fuzzy, but it was there.

The guys slept. Grayson slept on me for most of the afternoon - well, it wasn't that long, since I was so late getting to the studio. Louie got a nice loving before I got dressed. Today it was Grayson who got the tummy rub. They just love to be rubbed on their chests and up under their front legs. Grayson was going after Louie tonight, though. He wants to bite the back of Louie's legs for some reason. So then Louie got back at Grayson and I had to shout and pound on the floor to get them to stop. We don't fight in this house, at least when I can prevent it.

So that was all there was. There was one error in the bulletin, and after everything that I did wrong yesterday, I was not surprised. It wasn't a bad mistake, and Sue fixed it. Now it's a very cold, mostly cloudy night in the field.

January 9

Late again, but that seems to be the way of it.

I was late last night, too, but not excessively so. I slept well, and I got up around 9:30. I knitted on the brown sock. I had to count rows - I'm getting to the end of the leg - and I have to say, that is some of the worst knitting I've done in a long time. My tension kept changing from very loose to sort of tight, and sometimes in the same row. Fortunately, since there are a whole lot of colors in the yarn, it's not too obvious from the right side.

I didn't have time to do much else, after I got trapped in the iPhone again. However, I did get the bulletin put together. This one was easy, but then I sent out the file Pastor sent me instead of the bulletin. My mind...

The weather is very cold and very windy. The high temperature was at 2:00 AM, and it slid down steadily from there, and now it's 17º. The wind is finally dying down a bit, too, but the wind chill is still around 0º. This morning, we had sustained winds as high as 31 mph and gusts up to 44 mph (both at the same time around 9:00 AM). The lake has been singing loudly and every so often I would hear that whap! as a rogue wave hit the rocks. It was dark and cloudy and we had some light snow flurries, but nothing that registered at the weather station. It was a good day to stay inside and hunker down. According to the Road Commission, they had 17" of snow Monday and yesterday at Delaware. We didn't get that much, but we had enough. It's been so windy, though, that it's hard to tell just how much we did get.

The guys were sleepy. They got their loving in their usual spots. Grayson has been acting out, because the bowl with one of his favorite kibbles is empty. The 16 pound bag of that is out in the breezeway, and I just haven't felt like going out and getting it. Remember, I can only lift with one arm, since I have to use my cane with the other one, but I can't lift those big bags up onto the platform with one arm, so I have to stand at the bottom of the steps and lift one step at a time. I'll try to do it tomorrow.

I'm going through another wave of the Shari Syndrome again, and I don't feel good. Tonight I have to wash my hair again - probably Prell again, as I try to get my scalp back in shape. I still have some sort of lesion on my left ankle, right where the compression sock breaks, and the spot where Grayson scratched me (I stepped on him - we are an equal opportunity household - I've now stepped on both of them and gotten scratched by both of them) is weeping. He didn't completely break the skin, but he gouged deep enough that there is drainage. It's hard to get Band Aids to hold when I pull up the socks, and I don't know what to do long-term about my left ankle. Every time I think it's healed up, something happens and it acts up again. No wonder I don't walk around much. Both my feet hurt.

So that was my day and now it's late and I have to bathe, much as I'd rather not. It's a very cold, dark, windy night in the field, and winter is in full force.

January 8

Well, I managed to get my hair washed - it was so gross I had to use Prell on it, which doesn't happen often - but I was really late. I got up around 11:30, although that was strange. I had the feeling I wasn't soundly asleep and I hadn't been asleep very long, but as it turned out, I was and I had.

I knitted on the brown sock, mostly, but I have a dilemma with the IPhone. I like to take it with me to the north end so that I can check the weather and the camera in the morning, but when I have it, I end up playing solitaire for far too long. Well, this morning, I forgot to check the camera, and I'm sorry, because it hung up and it was 3:30 before I got to the studio. If I'd checked it, I could have trudged down here and reset it before I got dressed. Sorry, I'll try to do better.

I was so late that I didn't do anything else except change my bottoms. I need to get that under control, too. I usually read my email while I'm eating breakfast, and I need to get up and go right to the bathroom as soon as I finish - i know that - but I usually don't, and since I can be fine and 30 seconds later is too late, well, things happen. I'm trying hard to get myself under control again, but it's hard. I wanna do what I wanna do...

The weather wasn't very good. Oh, we had 13" of snow at Delaware yesterday. We didn't get as much here, but I would say at least 6", maybe 8". The wind was from the northwest overnight, although it has shifted north and speeded up now, so it's been noisy around here and cold in the house. Northwest winds are the worst. If there is one thing the iPhone has been useful for, it's to finally get me oriented properly. Northwest means the wind is coming in about right over the lighthouse, and it and west are the worst directions for me. There have been several snow showers - lake effect, of course - some of which registered at the weather station. The temperature was 36º all night, but it's been dropping since 8:00 AM, and it's now 23º and continuing down. It was dark and dull all day. There were whitecaps on the harbor (the ice is gone again), which had the color sort of like blued steel. Someone came around and cleared my driveway, but I don't plan on going anywhere at least until Friday.

The guys slept, but Grayson kept trying to climb all over me, and he did get to sleep in my arms for quite a while. I don't know what his trouble is, but of course, it is warm on my lap. I don't know where Louie was, but when it's cold like this, I think he hangs out in the loft, where it's warmer.

So that was another useless day, and now we're under another Winter Weather Advisory. It's a cold, dark night in the field, and maybe I can get to bed at a reasonable hour? I wonder.

January 7

It was a much less inverted day today, and I hope that doesn't happen again.

I knitted on the brown sock, except for about one row on the other one. I still can't decide which ones to do next, and I'm so comfortable using #2 needles that I suspect I may do the brown one first. Or maybe I should do the other one first and get it over with? Still can't decide.

I didn't do anything much today. I did have a couple of avalanches in the studio that resulted in my moving a bunch of stuff around. All the knitting I have to repair is now in one basket, and that will help. I still haven't found the check registers I need, but I'll keep looking. Just don't ask me about it.

The weather was miserable - really miserable. When I went to bed, I couldn't see down the harbor, and I still couldn't when I got up. It was heavy, wet snow and there was quite a bit of it. The front of my garage is really interesting. There is a drift right up against the door, then about five feet scoured down to the ground, then a 2' drift. I guess it's because the wind was from the south and the gusts got up to as much as 45 mph. Around 6:00 PM, the wind went calm for about two hours, and now it is picking up again from the north, but not nearly as strong. It was really interesting to be able to hear the wind in the trees and not hear any surf at all. However, with those winds, I wouldn't have wanted to be out in the lake! The waves must have been building toward 15'. Now, I know that's not much compared to the oceans, but considering those 1000' freighters, it's something they don't want to be out in. It can crack you in half - remember the Fitzgerald. Anyway, it was warm. The temperature was 28º overnight, and it has now risen to 37º, but it was over freezing after about 11:00 this morning. So this afternoon, the snow seemed to turn to sleet and maybe rain. We got 2.32" of liquid precip, and the weather station doesn't notice the drizzle and mist. It was a very good day to stay inside and hunker down.

So we did. Louie got some loving this morning and Grayson got his lap time, although it seems like there is never enough for him. I took a few more pictures. I'm still getting the hang of taking pictures with the iPhone.

So that was my day and now it's a dark, cold, damp night in the field. Oh, it's winter in the Keweenaw...

January 6 - The Epiphany of Our Lord

We won't talk about my schedule. Suffice it to say it was another inverted day.

Once I got up, I finished the purple sock - and oh, are they pretty! I will try to take a picture before i wear them. I looked over all the other socks I have going - #1, #2 and #4 needles - and worked on the thick ones. I don't wear them much, because they take up too much space in my shoes, but I have several pairs that I've only knitted one sock of. This yarn is all from the same manufacturer, and they came out with 12 different colorways...and I got them all. Then I knitted up one sock of each colorway, just to see how it came out, and then I started the second socks. i have 8 or 9 pairs done. Some of them I don't like at all - like the ones that are primarily brown and orange - some of them are, well, interesting - like the Halloween pair that are black, purple, green and orange with a very little rose - and some of them I like a whole lot, including some I haven't knitted the second sock of. The one I'm knitting on now is the Valentine one - red, rose, pale pink, purple and black. It's actually a pretty good combination. I should take pictures of those, too.

Anyway, with my inverted day and the knitting, I didn't do anything else. Well, I had an accident, of course, and I finally got the load of bottoms into the dryer. That was it.

Today was a very dull, gray day. The low temperature was 27º and the high was 30º. It was breezy, with south winds, and the latest report says the gusts are up to 31 mph. The winter storm warning goes into effect at 1:00 AM. I think there was something coming down for part of the afternoon, but whatever it was, it was light enough that it didn't register at the weather station.

The guys slept, of course. Louie got some loving this morning and Grayson got some lap time, but not as much as he might have wanted. They know what to do on days like today.

So do I, and I am not going to repeat last night. It's a dark, breezy night in the field and it should be snowing by morning.

January 5

I won't be going to church tomorrow. After I was out yesterday and I saw the condition of the road, I pretty much decided that, and it rained or sleeted or something today. Besides, I was making my dinner when I should have been in bed. Sigh.

I slept fairly well last night - better than I thought at the time - and I got up around 9:30. I knitted, and I've started the toe of the sock. I should finish it tomorrow. They are pretty socks and I'll be anxious to wear them, although I may wait until I go someplace where I can show them off.

Otherwise, I did nothing, except that I had an accident - not a bad one - and I peed my pants after I changed them. Sigh again. I finally washed the load of bottoms I've been working on and I will put them in the dryer when I go north. That was about it. I was late, and I kept stopping to knit.

The weather was not good. The high temperature was 37º, although it's dropped off to freezing now. There was no wind for most of the day, but now it's picked up to 33 mph gusts from the north. With the temperature going down and the wind going up, tomorrow will be a good day to stay home, and then starting tomorrow night, we're in for another round of snow. It was dark and gloomy all day. I still find it a bit disconcerting that when I get up an hour after sunrise, it's still almost as dark as civil twilight. I guess that's mostly the clouds, but it takes a long time to brighten up and then around 3:00 it starts to get dark again. We are on the upward leg, but we've only added about 7 or 8 minutes to the length of day since the equinox.

The guys slept, of course. Louie not only got his chops rubbed, he got a nice tummy rub, too, which made him purr. Grayson got to sleep on my lap for quite a while, although not until after I changed my bottoms. While he was there, Louie came around, and then they both went away. I know Louie is jealous of Grayson, but he gets his. When I came out of the bathroom after I changed my bottoms, Louie was sound asleep in my bed, in a place where Grayson sometimes sleeps. I guess it was a bit warm for him in the bathroom.

So it was another very quiet, useless day, and now it's a dark, windy night in the field and it's going to be cold, too. The lake is singing, and that means it will be a good night to sleep, if I ever get there.

January 4

Well, I slept better last night, although I had several night sweats. There were a few stars, but it was evidently partly cloudy and I didn't get to see Orion. I got up around 9:00 and I knitted for a while. I'm about two-thirds done with the foot on the second sock, so it will be done soon. As usual, the more I knit, the faster I go and this is such nice yarn!

I had plans for today, but they didn't happen. I went to the post office, where there was only a little mail, and I had some things I needed at the store. I'm not sure I'm going to attempt to go to church on Sunday. The roads are horrible, and tomorrow is supposed to be warm, followed by a freeze overnight into Sunday. I think I will just forget the whole thing, but I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Today was actually rather nice, but totally weird for this time of year. The high temperature was 39º, and while it was windy this morning, the wind died down to nothing this afternoon. It was mostly clear after about noon. At sunset, it was weird - it was clear over the land, and there was almost a wall of cloud over the lake. There was a really lovely picture around 5:00 - I took a special shot - when the setting sun turned the leading edge of the cloud apricot. I guess we're in for one more day of warm, then it will turn cold and on Monday, there will be snow. We have at least three more months of this to go. At least the tractor is OK.

The guys were sleepy. I didn't see much of Louie. Grayson didn't get his lap time, and he isn't happy about it, but I had things to do and it's very hard to type with a cat on my lap.

So that's it. Now it's another night in the field that might be clear and might not.

January 3

I was a bit later than I wanted to get to bed last night, and I slept quite well. I got up around 9:30. I didn't feel good when I went to bed and I didn't feel good when I got up, even with enough sleep. So I did nothing. I knitted, and I'm making good progress on the foot of the sock.

The weather was just as nasty as we were afraid it would be. By the time I got to the kitchen, it was raining, and it continued to do so all afternoon, even though it was below freezing most of the time. I do not like weather like that! It finally stopped around 4:00, and it began to clear up by sunset. The temperature has now risen to 36º. While it was raining, it was breezy, with wind gusts up to about 28 mph from the west, but it's been calm since it stopped.

The guys slept, of course. Grayson got to sleep on me for quite a while. Louie was sleeping in the great room when I went to get my dinner, and I nearly rolled my cart over his foot on my way to the studio. In some ways, he's really stupid. He's lived with me long enough to know he has to move out of my way and I'm more stubborn than he is.

So that was a nothing day. I did pay a few bills tonight and I ordered a couple of important things I'm running out of, but other than that and knitting, I did nothing. It's a dark and I think, sort of clear, night in the field.

January 2

Well. I was in bed by 10:30 last night, but I didn't sleep very well. I felt extremely tired when I went to bed, but I didn't get into a deep sleep until around 5:30, and I got up at 8:30 - 10 hours in bed is enough to make me hurt. I was up any number of times during the night, and it was clear. Not pristine, but enough that I had a conversation with Orion when he was balancing on RIgel over Brockway. I could also see Taurus and the Pleiades. Later, I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing, but I think it was Capella setting in the north (it actually never sets here, just skims the horizon over the lake) and the bottom of Gemini. There may have been a planet in there, too, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it was nice to see stars, and it didn't cloud up until later.

I spent most of the day knitting, as it turned out. I did the heel on the sock, but I ripped it out a couple of times before I got the rhythm, so it took a long time. Then, after breakfast, I had an extremely messy accident, and while I was in the north end, I finished the yoke on the black sweater (456 stitches!) and split the body from the sleeves. Now I will knit to the end of the ball I'm working with, and then I'll go back and knit the sleeves. A very long time ago, I learned to knit the sleeves first, no matter which way I knit a sweater. I have very long arms, so I have to alter any pattern I use, and so I do the sleeves first (or second, when it's a top-down sweater and I do the yoke first). Then, I do the rest of the body, from the underarms down, either until I run out of yarn or it's as long as I want it. One reason I make almost all my sweaters top-down is to make the best use of the yarn. Another, of course, is that there is no sewing to finish them. Anybody who can take a standard pattern for any garment, make it, and it fits, is more lucky than they probably realize. When you're large, with very long arms and legs and fleshy arms, you have to make lots of changes...and sometimes you have to knit a sweater two or three times, like I am this one. This is my own pattern, though, based upon the disaster of the first time I knit it. I really like this yarn, as you can tell. I knit the whole sweater once - it was too small - and i restarted it at least three times before I got the yoke right. I think it's going to be nice now, and I still love the fabric.

Otherwise, I made some minor corrections to the bulletin and that was it.

Mary Ann called, because she wondered if I had a phone number for FedEx. Well, I do, but she got me at the north end, and the numbers were at the south end, and when I tried to call her back, her answering machine wasn't working. i may have to use one or both of those numbers myself, since they still haven't picked up my package. Oh, and I got a survey from Walmart. I let them have it. This thing has been a disaster from the time I realized they had shipped me the wrong item,

The weather was cold but there was some sunshine. It was clear last night, like I said, and as a result, the temperature got down to 5º for a couple of hours this morning. It was cloudy at sunrise (I was actually up before sunrise - that's what I don't like about this time of year), but it got partly cloudy later and there was some nice sunshine after noon. It got up to 23º briefly and there wasn't any wind. It was getting cloudy at sunset, though, and tomorrow is going to be the usual Thursday, only this time warm, so the precip may be sleet or freezing rain. We've already decided not to go to church. Darn. I had hoped to start the New Year better.

The guys slept. They both got stepped on, Louie during the night, and Grayson when I was rolling my cart into the studio with my dinner. I have no sympathy for them; they know I don't move very well and darn it, they can move. However, I do have some fears that sometime either they or I will get injured. Grayson got to sleep on me for a while and Louie got a little loving.

Someone came to try to do some snow blowing on my driveway, but the tractor sounded so weird, I was not surprised when Ron called to say that the blower was sick and they might have to use the backup that is in my garage. They didn't come, so I assume that the guy who came out to look at it fixed the problem. I keep wondering if other people have as much trouble with their tractor/blowers as we have. I know it's a bit small for our task, but a lot of the problems we've had don't have anything to do with that. Today, for example, there wasn't much snow in my driveway because Walter was out yesterday with his plow truck. Anyway, I hope it's all fixed by Monday, when we are supposed to get another dumping.

Now it's a dark, very cold night in the field, and I have to wash my hair.

January 1, 2019 - New Year's Day

Well, Happy New Year again!

I had another inverted day, of course. I knitted on my sock and started the heel. Otherwise, I was so late and I got so caught up in the iPhone that I didn't do anything else.

The weather has turned very cold. The high temperature was only 18º, but the wind died down overnight, As far as I know, there was no snow today, and in fact, there was a ray of sunshine around 3:00, even though there were some really dark, steel gray clouds in the north. Mostly it was dull and gray. It's been cold enough that there is some slushy ice on the harbor that comes and goes depending upon the wind. We haven't had any drifting in the culverts yet, but the next storm may be different... Walter came around late this afternoon and did the driveway, which I appreciate. He mostly just uses his truck, but he scraped it down pretty well.

The guys slept. When I got up, they were both asleep in the bathroom, but not in parallel. Louie was in front of the toilet and Grayson was in front of the sink. Louie gets in this position where he is mostly on his back, but his hind legs are pointing left and his head and front legs are pointing right. I don't know how it can be comfortable, but he sleeps that way a lot when he's warm enough. I've wanted to get a picture of him since I first saw him doing this. He was sleeping that way at my feet when I sat down, but darn his hide, as soon as I got the iPhone in my hand, he rolled over and looked at me! Grr! Maybe someday I'll manage to catch him. It's really funny to see. Grayson sleeps on his back when he as something like a wall or a pillow to lean against, but he doesn't twist around like Louie does. Grayson got to sleep on my lap for a long time this afternoon.

I didn't have to change my underwear today! It's not that there's any difference in my gut, I just made it to the pot in time, but that's a step forward.

So I don't have anything else to report. It's 2019 now, and I'm hoping this is a lot better year than the last one. It's a cold, dark night in the field, but there might be a star or two to see.

Last updated 01/21/19 10:37 PM