journal

A View From the Field

July 6

So after saying that I had my schedule under control, I blew it. Maybe not tonight. I'm tired. I went down the game trap, but I've deleted a couple of the games - again - and the only ones I don't find terminally boring are the ones that I don't have to play fifty times in order to win a level. I don't think they have to make them so hard.

Anyway, I slept well. I knitted two rows on the shawl, and I sort of fixed the problem I was having yesterday. It's not right, but there are so many mistakes in this project that I'm sure one more won't be noticed. One memo to self: do not ever again try to knit a difficult pattern in very dark yarn. I'm sure I wouldn't have had nearly as many problems - and maybe i could have done it on a stockinette ground - if it had been a light yarn. Lesson learned.

I was late enough that I didn't do anything else. I did get another dunning letter from the hospital, so I guess I will have to call them again tomorrow. Sheesh. They wait a year before they notice a bill (for $14.46) hasn't been paid and they want to give it to a collection agency after three or four months - in the middle of a pandemic. I know I fixed the problem last month, but I guess I should have called the hospital back then. I will do it tomorrow. Oh, and I'm sure having a collection agency try to collect the bill would cost them at least 1000 times the amount of the bill. I do not understand the mindset of people like that.

The weather was extremely unsettled. The high temperature was 75º and it was extremely humid. In fact, the humidity came down in big drops several times. In the middle of the afternoon, we had some thunder, and then sometime later - I'm not quite sure when - suddenly there was an extremely loud explosion that sounded like it was further out toward the end of the point. it was obviously a bolt of lightning, but it sounded like something exploded like a bomb. I guess it wasn't anybody's house, because there were no fire trucks. I wonder what it was. It made both Grayson and me jump. It was very cloudy and dull all day and with the humidity so high, it was very uncomfortable.

I think Louie was probably in the basement. I know when the first thunder started, he headed in that direction. I tried to assure him, but he is so timid that I hope he was down there when the explosion happened. Grayson spent most of the day on the cart behind me, except when he was on my lap. Every so often he would move and start mewing. He's braver than Louie, but they do not like this weather.

Neither do I. It's very uncomfortable and it makes my joints ache all the more. So I think I will try to put them to bed at a more reasonable hour tonight. It's a dark and stormy night in the field.

July 5

Ooh, it's late and I'm tired. But oh, well.

I got my bath last night, but it was after 11:00 before i got to bed...and then I had to endure about two hours of consumer fireworks. The township fireworks were canceled, of course, to avoid large crowds, but somebody at the fort decided to set off about 15 minutes worth of consumer fireworks after 11:00. I couldn't watch, because it was behind a tree from the bedroom and I wasn't going to totter down even to the great room. And there was somebody who had some big bombs that they kept setting off all day and until about 2:00 AM.

So I was late getting to sleep, and a couple of hours later, I woke up with about as severe indigestion as I've ever had. I took some Rolaids, but I ended up having to sit upright for quite a while before it finally went away. Whew! For a while I thought i might be having a heart attack it was so acute. But it went away and it hasn't come back and that part of my body feels fine now.

Anyway, with all that, there was no way I was getting up at 6:00 AM, and in fact, I didn't wake up until 7:30. I went back to bed and got up around 10:00, I think. I tried to knit on the shawl, but I dropped something - several somethings, actually - and I didn't feel up to trying to get it back together, so I fell into the game trap again.

I was finishing my breakfast when Mary Ann called. I had called her on Thursday, and she didn't call back, so I figured she was busy, and that was right. Bill had a procedure at the end of the week, so she was busy with that. He is in really bad shape now, so she has to be around him all the time or out walking the dogs. I don't know about those dogs. They seem to need to pee about every three hours, which I don't think is usual, but then, I don't know anything much about dogs. Sp we had a nice conversation about our common problems and concerns. That's one thing about not going to choir practice with her that I really miss. I like her, and I enjoyed spending time with her every week.

That was all I did, although I did begin the process of getting someone to do my taxes. I will pursue that tomorrow. It's not going to be easy. I am still working off the capital losses I incurred back almost 20 years ago, and I don't know exactly how to fill out those forms. The iRS does have a list of places that will do taxes for free - at least the Federal Taxes - and that will help, but I am still very angry with the guy who bought the accounting practice who had been doing my taxes and then decided he didn't want to do that...but never even sent a letter saying that. Grr...

The weather was about the same as it has been. The high temperature was 81º - briefly, thankfully - and the humidity was over 70% all day. There wasn't much wind. It was mostly cloudy. Not my favorite kind of weather, and Mary Ann said the same thing. We don't like the humidity.

Neither do the guys. Grayson was around me or following me all day, and Louie finally came out from the north end a while ago and just said "meow" to me. Grayson did get some lap time, but it was while it was quite warm and he didn't' stay long. He also thought he wanted the last little piece of my avocado toast, but I wouldn't give it to him. I ate it.

So that was my day. It was another one of those days where I didn't eat until tomorrow because I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. Nothing in my packed freezer sounded good. I finally did eat something, but it was hard to decide. Now it's a warm, humid night in the field...so humid that we had a shower, but it was after midnight.

July 4 - Independence Day

I hope you're enjoying your day, even though it's much quieter than a normal 4th.

I thought I got to bed at a semi-reasonable time last night and I thought I got up at a semi-reasonable time this morning, but I have had a splitting sinus headache all day, mostly right behind my eyes, so the plan is to crash. I don't think I'll be going to church tomorrow; it's going to be extremely warm in Calumet and I can do without that, but we'll see. I won't be quite as early getting to bed as I would like, because it's after 7:30 already and I'm not done here yet.

Anyway, I knitted on the shawl without much trouble, I'm glad to say. I was seeing almost as good as I did yesterday and that helped a lot. That was about all i managed to do.

The weather is miserable. The temperature has been going up and down like a yo-yo, with a high of 84º. There was a bit of wind earlier in the day, but it was from the southwest, so that was when it got hot, but then it shifted to the northeast and even though it was very light and sometimes calm, all that cold water cooled things down as low as 66º for a while before it bounced back. It's very humid. The dew point is around 62º, which means that when the air temperature is down, the humidity gets up to 80%. I do not like this weather. There was a lot of sunshine, but there were high, thin clouds for most of the day. I hate this weather,

So do the guys. Louie slept, probably up at the north end. Grayson followed me around all day long for some reason, and he got some lap time with it was cooler, but I had to shove him off my lap to make a mad dash for the potty. I don't know what his problem is, although I thought I heard him coughing this morning.

So that was it. My head is so sore I won't be up for very long. It's a warm, calm partly cloudy evening in the field.

July 3

I got caught in the game trap again last night and I was quite late - not as later as the night before, but late enough. I slept fairly well, not great, and I got up around 10:30 maybe? I knitted four rows on the shawl, and this time I didn't make any horrible mistakes that I had to repair.

I was so late and I felt so bad that I didn't do anything else. I've concluded that some of the bites I've gotten, especially the ones in weird places like the inside of my elbow and way high on the inside of one thigh, are black fly bites. For one thing, mosquitoes don't bite in places like that, and for another, they are so itchy they keep me awake sometimes. i have another day or two of that, unfortunately, but at least I don't get those horrible blisters anymore. I don't think I have any black flies in the house, but I've been out in the breezeway several times lately and I'm sure they're out there - delivery people come in and bring them along. I know I have mosquitoes inside, though; I killed one ih the bathroom last night. It was cool enough that it was moving slowly.

The weather today was sort of like yesterday. The high temperature was 75º, briefly, there was no wind at all and the humidity was very high. In fact, we had thick fog from 9:00 until noon and it didn't leave completely until after 1;00 PM. Oh, my aching joints! Otherwise, the sky was mostly clear until 5:00 PM, when it began to cloud up. The late afternoon has been sort of gray, but the mountain was reflected in the harbor all day

The guys mostly slept. They got some of their new kind of canned food today and Louie liked it - it's fish - but I'm not sure Grayson did. Somebody ate it. Grayson got some lap time, but it was too hot for him and I didn't let him come back. He spent some time under both windows, but I'm not sure where he is now or where Louie is. We do not like this weather!

So that was my very quiet day and now I must go to bed. I'm so tired my head hurts. It's a sort of clear, warm, calm night in the field.

July 2

I was so late last night. I sat for a while, then I took my bath and sat some more. It was cooling down, so I was quite comfortable under all four layers. I slept fairly well - not great - and I got up around noon. i had drained the battery on the phone and I didn't want to knit long enough to work on the shawl, so I knitted on sock #2 for about half an hour before I got up and did my thing.

I had to shut the front window in the bedroom. A strong north wind had sprung up and the temperature was only 66º at that point, and the heat came on. It didn't bother me, but it is sort of a waste of gas.

I spent most of the afternoon doing my surfing, I guess. I don't remember, so that must be what it was. I had to change my bottoms and I have a load of clothes in the dryer and the white stuff in the washer. My laundry station has two bags full of something - who knows what/ - that I have to get out so I can get the thing out of the laundry room and maybe make some room in there so I can work.

The weather was all right. It only got up to 72º because there was a light wind from the north and that lake is still icy cold. It was very humid, and we had some fog this morning and some haze this afternoon. While I was in the bathroom, I heard at least one laker sounding its foghorn. I don't know why they need to do that anymore, since everybody has radar, but some still do. They're not the old steam horns I used to hear when I was a little girl, but it's still fun to hear them. Other than the fog and haze, the skies were relatively clear. It was extremely humid, over 80% and now it's 90%. The barometer is slowly, slowly rising. I hurt and it's no wonder.

The guys slept. Grayson got a little lap time, but Louie came close to the door to the studio and meowed and Grayson went away. He did spend some time sitting on the cart.

The night before last, when it was so hot, I had another infestation of mosquitoes (yes, they were mosquitoes and not black flies) and I got chewed to pieces. They particularly attacked the inside of my left elbow and that area is so itchy I almost couldn't go to sleep last night. There must be at least half a dozen bites and they all seem to be running together. It will be another couple of days before most of the itch is gone. I still don't know how they get in. As far as I know, there are no gaps in the screens or anything, but every time I have the windows open, I get chewed up.

So that was another quiet day and I keep forgetting that tomorrow is the official holiday, so I won't be able to get my mail until at least Monday.

Now it's a coolish, very humid but clear night in the field and i should go to bed.

July 1

I was a bit late last night - only about 15 minutes - and I slept fairly well, considering how hot it was. I opened one of the front windows in the bedroom and that helped a lot, because my ceiling fan is broken. I don't understand it. I used it all one summer, and the next summer when I turned it on, nothing happened. I sort of wonder if maybe some critter got into the attic and chewed a wire, but I have no way of checking that. And my other fan is in the basement, and well...

Anyway, I got up around 9:00 and I tried to knit. I wanted to knit at least three rows, maybe four, but I had a terrible time, dropping a lot of stitches. That was partly because I couldn't see anything even though it was very bright in the bathroom with the sun shining in.

I didn't do the task of the day. I guess it was partly because there was a lot of stuff to read, but I also spent a long time on the phone with Schwan's. I never got a receipt for my order of last Friday and it was never charged to my credit card. The person I talked to had no reason why. It was a confusing conversation anyway because i was looking at the wrong order and I thought there was something I didn't get and didn't order. We got that straight eventually, and they've finally debited my credit card. I still haven't gotten a receipt.

That was an interesting fifteen minutes or so. I got an email that said some charges had been attempted to "my account" and of course I panicked and followed the link, but then I got to thinking about it (after I put in my account name and password, of course) and when I looked at the header information, it was clearly a phishing attempt. Sooo...I have just spent several minutes changing my login ID and password for the bank and updating it in two browsers. I think it's safe now, but I'll be checking very carefully for a while. It's what I hate about the internet.

Two browsers? I use both Firefox and Brave, since Chase doesn't support IE anymore. I think I like Brave better, but I'm still not decided. I won't use Chrome because that's Google and I don't think Edge runs on Windows 7, but I understand it's the least private of all the browsers, so I wouldn't use it, either. Brave is supposed to be the most private, but it's sort of clunky for someone who has been using IE for 25 years. Anyway, onward.

It's hot. Well - it's hot depending upon where the wind is from. At noon, the temperature was 85º, but then the wind shifted north and at 1:00 it was 69º and it got down to 61º before it began to recover and it went up to 85º again at 6:00 PM. It's cooling off some now, but it's still warm. There wasn't much wind at all, actually, but it was mostly from the southwest. It was sort of clear, but there were thin high clouds. The humidity was tolerable - under 50% for a while - but the barometer is still quite low.

it was a shorts and tank kind of day and I had iced tea for breakfast. Actually, I had a whole pot of tea. I have a lovely blue Rockingham teapot that I haven't used very much - I rarely make that much tea - and I filled it up and added a little honey. It was wonderful, but I spent the afternoon walking between the studio and the powder room. What goes in must come out...

I also had to go out to the breezeway because I was running out of incontinent pads, but I wasn't out there for long and I still haven't opened the box with the hall thingie in it. It's just too hot to be working in the hallway right now. I'll get at it as soon as it cools off, which I hope it will.

The kitties are walking around slowly with their tails down and lying stretched out on the bare floor. They don't like this weather any better than I do. Grayson spent a few minutes on my lap, but mostly he's been sitting on the cart behind me.

So now I'm later than I wanted to be, because I have to take a bath. When it's this hot, I much prefer to take my bath at night so I'm as cool as possible when I go to bed. I am thinking about just wearing panties and a vest to sleep in, instead of a nightie, but I'll see how I feel when I get out of the shower. Oh, shower sounds so good! I'm so sticky and icky. Any time I do anything, I sweat and it leaves me so sticky.

IT's a sort of clear, warm night in the field, and it's July. Sigh.

Last updated 07/06/20 11:12 PM