journal

A View From the Field

August 8

Oh, I have to go to bed tonight! I didn't last night, although I didn't quite invert. I was awfully late. I got about 8 hours' sleep, but on top of the past couple of nights, it wasn't enough. Since I won't be going to church tomorrow (too late now) I can wash my hair tomorrow

It was another day when I didn't do much of anything, although I did get the dishwasher unloaded, finally, and Tomorrow I will be able to start reloading it. I'm getting down to mom's Corelle, so it's time. Mine is Old Town Blue, and hers is just white, and I like mine better. I use two medium plates every time I have eggs for breakfast, which uses them up quickly. Maybe this time I can do the backup-backup cat dishes and get everything out of the sink?

Anyway, i was late enough that that was all I did.

The weather was unsettled. It rained lightly from 7:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and we had 0.33" of rain. The high temperature was 72º, but mostly it was in the high 60s. There wasn't much wind. It was cloudy this morning, although we had a bit of sunshine this afternoon. It was - and still is - horribly humid. The lowest the humidity got was 81%. No wonder I hurt.

The guys slept, but they both got some loving.

So that's all there is, and now it's a partly cloudy, very humid night in the field.

August 7

So I inverted last night. I was reading one of my favorite stories and I didn't want to stop. I slept hard for about four hours - so hard that I messed up my shoulder - but after I got up to pee, I couldn't get back to anything but dozing, so I'm really tired now. Still reading, though.

I didn't do anything much. I got a Schwan's order, and even though it wasn't a very big one, the freezer is pretty packed, so I have to draw down what's there. While I had it open, I chipped out the ice in the bottom. I do that every two weeks, but this time, it was an inch thick in spots. I should get the repair people out here, but I paid my monthly bills yesterday and today and I don't have any money again - with a large tax bill and a large gas bill coming up. Sigh. It never seems to end.

THe weather was nice. There were a few clouds this morning and a few more late in the day, but mostly it was clear and lovely. The high temperature was 80º, but there was a nice southwest breeze, around 7 mph. The humidity was around 50%, which is nice for me. As usual, it's going to rain over the weekend.

The guys slept and nobody wanted to sit on me, although they both got petted.

So it was another very quiet day and now it's a warm, dark night in the field.

August 6

It was another day when I didn't do anything. I caught up on my sleep, although I was late getting to bed - and even later getting up.

The weather started out sort of cloudy, but it cleared up in the afternoon. The NWS page says the temperature spiked at 77º this morning - although I can't see when - but it was in the low 70s for most of the day. There was a bit of north wind - in the 15 mph range - and for most of the day the humidity was down around 65%, although it's gotten much wetter lately.

The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time and Louie got some loving this morning.

And that's all there was. It's a clear night in the field.

August 5

Oopsie! I just plain forgot about the journal last night and it went through my mind and disappeared this morning. If It wasn't for Phil, I might have forgotten tonight, too. Thanks, Phil.

Nothing happened yesterday anyway, except that I finally talked to the nurse and got that straight. Taking all that potassium at once was upsetting my stomach, so now I'm taking two in the morning and two at dinner. I go back for another blood test on the 13th - my mother's birthday.

So I got to bed late but clean and I got up around 9:30 - not nearly enough sleep. I'm tired. I had time to have a nice breakfast and do some of my surfing before it was off to the hospital. There was only one road crew, at least until after I got there. A friend who had been laid off was there today. She's working part-time, and I was glad to see it.

My echocardiogram went well. This is only the second time I've laid on my left side for one, but this technician - my first man - is left-handed. Maybe that was true of the other one, too, I don't know, because that was my first echo, back in 1998 when I was prepping for my first chemo. I didn't know enough about it then.

Then i was off to Pat's. I didn't need a lot, but I will be running out of JD soon and I was nearly out of salad greens. I was able to get a few things they didn't have the last time, but there were some other things they did have the last time that they didn't have today. So I guess I'll have to go back the next time I'm in town that isn't a Sunday.

I left Pat's about 3:00 and I wanted to get gas. When I got to the corner with the stop light, there was a lineup on US-41 that was long enough that I was the last guy before the corner. There was no traffic in either direction and they were setting up warning signs. At 3:00, no less! So dumb. Eventually they let northbound traffic through, but it looked like there was going to be a long wait for the other way, so I pulled out of line, turned around in a parking lot and came home. I didn't need gas that bad. Later I realized I could have gone around the whole thing, but I wasn't desperate. By the time I went through the intersection in the other direction, it was a mess, because everyone who wanted to go south on US-41 was just sitting. I was glad to be away from it. Since road crews seem to stop work at 4:00 PM, I don't know what the heck they thought they were doing. So dumb.

I was glad to get home, but almost everything I bought needed to go in the fridge, so I had a lot more walking to do.

I had called Mary Ann a day or two ago and she called back just about the time I was thinking about dinner, but that was all right. We talked for two hours. I hope I help her. Bill has another raging urinary tract infection, which has really beaten him down and is going to keep them from pursuing his other problems. He apparently has a bug that is related to Lyme Disease but isn't, and those things are so political that they are having a hard time getting any treatment. She is persistent and stubborn, though, and she'll do her best, but they will have to cancel a couple of appointments because they are down in Wisconsin and Bill can't drive with his urinary tract thing. i hope I gave her some encouragement, or at least some support.

Oh, the weather. It's been cool and pleasant. Yesterday the high temperature was 62º, with light north winds, but the humidity got down to 60%, which was nice. Today, the high was 73º, the wind was around 15 mph from the north and the humidity was a tad higher. It was clear both days. It was a nice day to be driving.

The guys slept. Right now, Grayson is asleep on the cart and I think Louie is asleep on one of the scratching pads in the great room. They don't like it when I go away, so they will be happier tomorrow.

So that's been the last two days and now it's a cool, dark night in the field.

August 3

It's been an upside down day and tomorrow (well, today - it's after midnight) will be, too. I got to bed late, got up late and played games until the phone died. I wasn't hungry, so I only had a little breakfast, and I wasn't hungry even when i decided I'd better eat. I don't know why. However, I had to eat and I had to make something - not like last night, when I had avocado toast for dinner - so now it's really late. I must get back on schedule. I have an appointment at 1:00 PM on Wednesday.

Anyway, I didn't do anything except the bulletin, and it seems like that came out all right. At least my main proofreader seems to think so.

The weather was marginally better than yesterday. The high temperature was 63º and the humidity was around 60% - much better, if not good. There was a light breeze from the north. It was cloudy in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon, but a while ago, the full moon was shining in the windows. It's neat when it shines in the upper windows in the great room.

The guys did their thing. They both got some loving. I've made up with Louie, but he behaved himself today.. Grayson got to sleep on me for quite a while, until I had to move. He thought my dinner smelled good, but I know he wouldn't eat any.

So that was a strange, truncated day and I really must go to bed. It's a clear - or maybe partly cloudy - night in the field.

August 2

This has been a crazy, mixed-up day and it still is. I woke up this morning thinking it was Monday, August 3 and I could do the things I have to do on a weekday. Well, it wasn't, but it took me half the day to get my head around it. It wasn't until I looked at my email and saw The Lutheran Hour's emails for August 2 that I finally began to get it straight.

I don't know why i was so confused, but I was late getting to bed - will be tonight, too - and it was a restless night. I also don't know why I didn't take a good look at the iPhone, which would have told me I was wrong. Oh, well. I finally got my head around it, but I didn't do anything and I just sat and read for most of the afternoon.

Part of my problem has to have been the weather, which was miserable. We had 0.82" of rain overnight, and when I got up, the humidity was still 90% and the temperature was 56º. Geez, this is August, already! There was a strong north wind in the morning, with gusts up to 39 mph. So we had a wind chill, even though they don't report it. I had to close up the house, because it was cold in here. It did finally get to 61º, briefly, and the wind has died down, but it's still cold. And last weekend it was in the 80s. Got to love it. Anyway, the humidity was mostly the reason I didn't sleep as well as I should have. I hurt after I spent more than a couple of hours on one side or the other. And I didn't want to move, once I got to the studio.

The guys didn't want to move either, although I was awake around 7:30 when Louie went after Grayson. I haven't had much to do with Louie today. He broke the peace, so I am not pleased with him. Grayson slept on my lap for a long time. It was cool enough that he was comfortable.

So that was my day. I should have worked on next week's bulletin today, but I will do that tomorrow after I make my phone calls. I didn't feel like doing anything today, so I didn't.

It was cloudy all day, but it seemed to be clearing up at sunset. Only when I went looking for the moon, which is just about full and is extremely low in the sky - about where the sun is in the winter - and there were clouds moving in front of it, so I guess it's a cold, cloudy night in the field.

August 1

I was late last night. It seems like when I've been with other people, even just one, I have to decompress before I can sleep. Once I got to bed, I slept well. I was awake around 9:00 - I was in the bathroom when I got a spam phone call - but I decided to go back to bed just for a couple of hours. It turned out to be three.

I didn't do any knitting. I didn't feel like dealing with the goof I made, especially when the crochet hook I put in the dropped stitch came out, but I did play games for a while. And one of the games I enjoy playing has been broken and I will only be able to play the daily puzzles, at least until they fix it. I wish people would be more careful, even if they're just games. I liked that one. Two others that I've been playing have gotten to a point where the level I'm trying to play is impossible without some kind of trick I haven't figured out yet. So I'll go on and probably end up playing solitaire again.

Anyway, I fiddled around long enough that I was late eating breakfast. I will have to call the nurse on Monday, both to discuss the test results, and because the amount of potassium I'm taking is affecting my tummy and I don't like it. I think it's too much anyway.

So i didn't do anything much else. I did my surfing and I've been reading. I had the rest of last night's dinner and while it wasn't quite as good as it was last night, it was still better than what I normally eat. How I love Harbor Haus's food!

The weather was nice, although it's been humid and it will probably start raining in a while. The high temperature was 80º, but it was around noon, and it cooled off a bit after that. It's quite cool and quite humid now. It started out clear and lovely, but by sunset it had clouded up and it was dull and gray again. i reset the wake and sleep times of the camera by an hour in the morning and 45 minutes at night. I've been waiting until the end of July, but it's time to start adjusting it. So we've lost about 2 hours of day length since June. Sigh. It was nice while It lasted.

The guys were sleepy. Louie got a little loving, but he's still going after Grayson, so I'm not very pleased with him. Grayson got on my lap for a little while, but I think it was a bit too warm for him. They're happy as long as I don't go away.

It's too late now, so I won't be going to church tomorrow and I've decided to postpone the bath until tomorrow. I thought I got enough sleep, but I'm tired again now.

So it's a cool, moist, cloudy night in the field and the rain is coming...the rain is coming. And it's August. Sigh.

Last updated 08/08/20 10:05 PM