journal

A View From the Field

May 5

I was later than I wanted to be, but there were a couple of pieces of music I wanted to hear right before midnight and then I just sat. I got up at a reasonable time, though, but then I just sat again before I got dressed and got our breakfast.

I ended up having an accident. Last evening when I went to the powder room, when I flushed the toilet, the tank did not refill. I looked at it and everything seemed to be working, but no water was coming in. Well, eventually a plumber will get here, but in the meantime, I decided after breakfast - too long after breakfast - that I'd better just go up to the north end. That takes me long enough that I didn't make it. And after I cleaned up and began to wash a load of bottoms, I investigated the powder room and everything seems to be all right now I have no clue what happened.

Anyway, while I was up at the north end, I had several conversations with Schwan's about some concerns I have, including that my next order won't arrive until I think next Wednesday. I've also had some quality issues, including a rotten strawberry this morning. That took time, but I must say they reacted quickly, not that they did anything about it. And that was all I did.

The weather was cool but nice for a whlle. The high temperature was 49º, briefly, and there was a north wind that was mostly in the 15 mph range. The day started out cloudy, cleared up around noon and then got cloudy again around 7 PM. There were a few stars when I went to bed, but obviously they didn't last long.

Grayson spent a long time on my lap after breakfast, no doubt one reason for my accident. I am concerned that it seems like he is having some problems peeing, but I need to get that litter tray set up so I can really see what he's doing.

When I was reading February and March's journals, I discovered a whole bunch of typos, mostly in February, which I didn't fix. Sorry about that. I think it probably has to do with not being able to see very well and missing the very fine red lines under the misspells. Maybe sometime I'll fix them, but maybe not, too. If I ever go back to converting the journals to Word documents, I'll probably fix them there, but I haven't done that in so many years, I'm not sure I ever will go back to it.

So it was another wasted day and now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field. Or I think it's cloudy.

May 4

Well, it was about 2 AM again, but that seems pretty normal. I slept well, for once, and when I got up I didn't fiddle around much before I took my bath.

There was an addition to the prayer list, from a call from a very nice lady at church, and I have actually sort of started on my taxes. It's about time. I got all my credit card statements organized and ready. Tomorrow I will start on the ledger. I'm not looking forward to that, and it might not be necessary, but I never can tell whether I need to itemize or not, and it's an exercise I need to do anyway. I couldn't do anything after the talking stopped, because I have to be able to see and at this time of year, I can't turn on the lights until after 10 PM.

Every time I try to get myself under control, I get a bit farther.

The weather was blah again. When I got up, it was very foggy and the fog didn't lift until around 1 PM. The high temperature was 42º and there was a wind from the north in the 15 mph range. Even after the fog lifted, it was cloudy and dull.

Grayson was on today. He came and sat on my lap twice, and the first time, he actually went to sleep. I had to move him because I had to pee. He got something he likes to eat, so he was happy, and I got him his meal early enough that he didn't have to whine at me very much.

I looked back through the old journals and I think I finally have the timeline of the flood nailed down. It would be nice if I could remember to note these things as they happen, but oh, well. I never have been able to be consistently organized.

So that's it, and it's a cool, cloudy night in the field, but I guess it's supposed to clear up eventually.

May 3

Another wasted day. I was much earlier to bed and i got a good night's sleep, but then...

I did get a first draft of the bulletin done and sent out.

The weather was nondescript. The high temperature was 51º and for most of the day there was a southeast wind gusting up to 28 mph. It sounded strange, because we don't often have winds from that direction. It was cloudy and dull.

Grayson was patient with me for quite a while before he started complaining, but he liked his canned food, so that made him happy.

And that was all there was. It's a warmish, dark night in the field.

May 2

Technically, i didn't invert, but it was so close it's only a technicality. I slept well for about five hours, i think, with one wakeup, but after that, I couldn't get back into a deep sleep, so I got up. I fiddled some, so I didn't do anything again. Maybe tonight?

The weather was nicer than they forecast. The NWS station reported that the high temperature was 57º, between i and 2 PM, but I can't figure out when that was. There was almost no wind, although it finally settled down to under 10 mph from the east. The morning started out clear but the clouds moved in around noon, and although they weren't very thick, so it was bright, it wasn't nice and blue.

Grayson got one of his favorite canned flavors today and he vacuumed it up. He wanted to sit on me while I was doing something else, and he didn't stay, so he never got to sit on me. He wanted some of my dinner, too, but I'm not going to get any further into that than I already am.

I overcooked the steak, which was too bad, although it was still pretty good. I think that's because I don't cook stuff like that very often so I'm out of practice. It was a nice steak, but I noticed even before I cooked it that it didn't seem to be very juicy. I doubt I'll do that again for a while, but it was nice this once. I still have a lamb chop, but I think I'll hold that for a couple of days and hope my gout doesn't flare up.

Oh, yes, I did do something. I cleaned up my email program, finally. I hadn't done that since November 2919, and some folders were even older than that. Among all of them, including sent items, i deleted almost 8500 messages. I must try to do better. I never go back to most of those things anyway, and I've stashed away all the important stuff. I get an incredible number of ads, because I do almost all my shopping online and every place I shop sends me emails. There is one company that has two outlets and they both send three or four emails a day - all duplicates. It annoys me, but I have seen things I wanted to know about, so I let them continue. I think the worst is eBay. I replaced my JD water bottle through them and later I looked at some shoes - didn't come big enough - and for the last month or more, I've been getting one or two emails a day with shoes. Sheesh. THey clearly do not understand shoppers like me. I am about to turn them off completely.

So that was my very quiet day and I really, really need to go to bed. It's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.

May 1

So I inverted last night. I sat in the bathroom until I started having several second episodes when I apparently fell asleep. i guess I was just too tired to get up and go to bed. I didn't get enough sleep, but I'm still trying to cycle back. It won't happen tonight, but maybe I can avoid a complete inversion.

So I didn't do anything.

The weather was nice and I had a fleeting thought about going out onto the deck, but right now there is so much stuff between me and the door that I have a lot of work to do before I can reach the other side of the room. The high temperature was apparently 62º, although i question that, because I can't find an hourly reading that comes close to it. The wind started out from the southwest, shifted around to the north and now is back to the southwest. It was cloudy in the morning, cleared up by 11:30 and clouded up again by 7:30 PM. In between it was beautiful.

Grayson did his thing. He got some canned food he loves. I got it at Pat's and now I have to see if I can find it on Chewy, because Pat's is expensive. That's two days in a row, so I'll be able to continue to give him a change. I'm afraid if i gave him the same canned stuff every day, he would get tired of it and stop eating. At least I make dinnertime exciting for him, and boy, does he get excited! I would think it was sad that food was the high point of his day, except that I have the same problem.

I indulged in a strip steak ($16.99 a pound!!!!!) and maybe I will have it tomorrow. I also got a lamb chop. I'm a little wary about eating them both right after each other, because they could cause a gout flare-up, but I am so tired of fish and chicken and chicken and fish.... They had my Channa Masala, finally, but that needs rice and I've been off rice lately. Maybe I will make some and freeze it, like I used to when I started eating it. It lasts in the fridge for about a week, usually, but I have been eating potatoes lately. This weekend, I've been eating grilled cheese.

So that's what there is and it's a cloudy, relatively warm night in the field. And it's May, the month of new beginnings in the north country.

Last updated 05/06/21 12:13 AM