journal

A View From the Field

December 11

I don't think I have any heat. At least it's frigid around here anyplace where I don't have auxiliary heat. Oh, sigh.

I was earlier than usual last night, but not really early. I didn't sleep very well, and I think it was probably because I wasn't warm enough. I expect to wear my sweats to bed tonight. I had intended to wash my hair tonight, but now I'm not sure I'll do that. It needs it, but it's cold!

I didn't do much. I knitted two rows - it was so cold in the bathroom! - and I did my surfing and that was about it. While the talking was going on, I embroidered. I am working on the satin stitch in the middle of the triangle motif I've been working on, but I'm not through with it yet.

The weather is part of the reason it's so cold. it bottomed out at 7º overnight, with a strong north wind. The wind shifted a bit to the west for a while but then it went back to the north and we had sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts to 44 mph around noon. it's died down a bit now and the temperature is up to 17º finally, but it's still frigid and windy. The snow finally stopped around 3:30 PM and the clouds started to break up. When i came back here with my dinner, the full moon was shining in the upper east windows, very blue and frosty.

Louie spent his day at the north end. When I was up there to change my pants, I left the heat lamp on in the bathroom and he moved in there, where it's marginally warmer. Grayson's solution to the cold was to sit on me, although he couldn't do it as much as he wanted to.

So that was another very quiet day and now it's a frigid, windy, partly cloudy night in the field. Brr.

December 10

Late again, of course. One problem with the phone is that while I'm sitting in the bathroom, questions occur to me and I just have to look them up. I take it with me so I can check the weather when I get up. I think I was checking the cooking time for my pork chops - for which I didn't get an answer. I saw everything from 2 to 9 hours. Sheesh.

The problem seems to be that every slow cooker is different and the way every cook wants the chops done is different. For me, and this recipe, and this slow cooker, it seems to be 4 or 5 hours. I think I probably let them go close to 5 hours, because I had to roast my potatoes. Whatever, it was an exceptionally nice dinner, along with some cooked veggies and a salad. i haven't eaten so much in a long time, but it sure was good. And I have another meal to go, too. That chop is a bit smaller, which is fine. I baked my baby potatoes, and while they took some time - about 25 minutes in the convection oven - they came out very nice and tasted great.

One of the other things I keep looking up on the internet is the amount of fiber in things, and I was interested to see that there is more fiber per ounce in potatoes than there is in brown rice, so my elimination should be OK tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I really have to cook up some of the barley and quinoa I have. Barley has more fiber than anything. I want to mix it with the rice, just for a change of pace.

I embroidered while the talking was going on and I finished two small motifs and started a big one, this a diamond with a crown on top that has both backstitch and satin stitch in it.

The information for the bulletin came in around 1:30 for once, so while I was waiting for my potatoes to cook, I put it together and sent it out. The next couple of weeks will be hard, because of all the services, but this one was easy, unless I missed something.

The weather was, um, wintry. When I got up this morning, they had put out a Winter Weather Advisory until tomorrow - I was wondering about that last night - and it snowed lightly all day, although it didn't start to register in the rain gauge until around 4:00 PM tonight. The temperature started out at 16º this morning and has now fallen to 8º. The wind was strong this morning, with gusts up to 28 mph from the north, but lately it's died down and shifted toward the west. 0f course, that has put the wind chill well below 0º. I was glad to stay home.

The guys slept, although Grayson didn't get much, if any, lap time, because I had to get up and do things. He was pouting.

So it was another very quiet day, but at least I got to play with my slow cooker and get the bulletin out of the way. It's a frigid, snowy night in the field.

December 9

Oh, I was late again, but not nearly as late as the night before and I got a lot of sleep. Then I knitted two rows, for the first time in a couple of days, so I was late eating. I have to make those pork chops tomorrow, so i hope I get up earlier, but we'll see.

I was so late that I didn't do much else. While the talking was on, I embroidered on another round motif. This one is mostly flowers and leaves, sort of like a wreath, with a flower in the middle. It's fun to see all the different ways to fill in a circle.

The weather was snowy and cold. The temperature slid down slowly from 23º this morning to 19º now. It snowed all day, and I think it probably still is, even though there hasn't been any measurable precip for the past few hours. Snow is harder to measure than rain anyway. The wind has slowly shifted from east to northeast, but it's gusting up to 37 mph. It's a good day to hunker down.

We did that. Louie got a little love this morning and Grayson got to sit on my lap for a while.

So it was another slow day and now I'm listening to Beethoven, which means I'll be a bit late tonight, too. It's a very cold, snowy, windy night in the field.

December 8

So I inverted again last night. I wrote about 1100 words and I was reading a lot and time just passed. So I was late getting up and I don't feel good. I just about fell asleep several times during the afternoon.

The weather was nondescript. It was 38º all night long and the temperature has been falling all day, until now it's 24º. There was a strong wind that started out from the north and is now from the east, with gusts up to 28 mph. I find it curious that for the past few years we've had so many snowstorms with winds from the east. That didn't used to happen. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory until 10:00 PM tomorrow, but as far as I know, it hasn't started to snow yet. It's supposed to get extremely cold in the next three or four days, too. I think I'll stay home.

The guys slept. Grayson didn't get to sleep on me because he went away before I was ready for him. I think Louie has been up at the north end again.

I put the load of underwear in the dryer before I went to bed, and today I washed the load of sweats. I will get the underwear out and the sweats in before I go to bed. They take forever to dry.

So that was a nothing day and now it's a cold, dark night in the field and the snow is coming...the snow is coming...

December 7

Oh, I almost forgot - this is Pearl Harbor Day. I always try to commemorate it, because I was about five months old when it happened and it had a big impact on the early part of my life, and probably the rest, too, because I've always thought my dad came home with PTSD and that affected all of us. PTSD wasn't a thing at that time, but he sure acted like it.

So i was late again and I didn't get enough sleep again, but oh, well. And it's late, but I've given up going to church tomorrow - the weather forecast isn't good - so it doesn't matter.

I was writing. The reason I was so late last night - I'd intended to get to bed at a reasonable hour - was the computer again. Sheesh. This time, I lost that file completely. I had it open and it saved and I could open it from Word, but when I tried to look at it with any version of Explorer, it wasn't there. I searched and fiddled and tried to copy and renamed and nothing worked, so finally, i gave up, but it was late.

Tonight I decided I was going to conquer this thing, so I fiddled a whole lot more before I finally managed to get a file with the right name to save so I could see it. The thing is, I couldn't see it. It was fine when it was showing up in my Word recent files list, but those turn over rather quickly, the way I work, and since I couldn't see the file in Explorer, if it rolled off the bottom of the Word files list, it was lost. So finally I saved it as a different file, took a deep breath and deleted the file I had to search the whole stupid disk for and renamed the new one. So far, it's all right, but I'll be watching. Whatever stupid bug I uncovered in Explorer, I do not know, but it just about drove me crazy. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

I did the system update and got the warning that Windows 7 is going off maintenance next month. Of course, they want me to buy a new PC. Fat chance of that happening! So I don't know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm afraid there are a couple of apps I use all the time that won't be compatible with Windows 10, and of course, ultimately, I need two copies of Windows and two copies of Office Professional, and that gets expensive. Eventually, I will figure out the problem with the laptop and get it running again, and I want both computers to be the same, as much as they can be.

Oh, yes, and I finally broke down and washed a load of underwear, which is in the dryer now, and soaked the load of bottoms I've soiled in the past few days. So as of tomorrow, I should have panties again.

I got a couple of messages from Walmart saying that some of my order had been delivered, and when I looked out in the breezeway, yes, indeed there were boxes. Or i think so. I haven't checked for the second one yet. There's more to come. I was gratified that the delivery guy actually was able to get the breezeway door open, even though there was some snow in front of it. But he's a nice guy and I think he knows I'm disabled. I was surprised that they evidently delivered on Saturday, but there are so many packages flying around this season that I guess I can understand it. My TP was delivered yesterday evening, which was a relief, but I haven't gotten into the box yet.

I have a very slowly running drain in the bathroom sink. I guess it's just 20 years of crud, but it's an annoyance. I have some drain stuff, but I'm not sure it's the right kind. I'll try it, though, because pretty soon the drain is going to be completely plugged, and that won't do. I also had to run some water in the bathtub. If you never do that, eventually the trap dries out and the least that can happen after that is you get some really strange noises if you flush the toilet or run the shower. i think it's all right now. I still wish I could use that tub, but no way could I ever get out of it if I got in.

The weather was OK. It was clear and sunny this morning, but by about 2:30 PM a cloud bank had come up and it was cloudy and dull and maybe spitting snow at sunset. The high temperature was (is) 34º and evidently it rose steadily all day. There wasn't much wind.

I was sitting in the bathroom knitting when Louie, who was sleeping beside my feet, woke up and put his paw on my foot. He does that, and I don't mind, except that this time he flexed his toes and stuck a claw into my foot deep enough to draw blood. I do not appreciate that. It hurt, too. So i didn't pet him and I made him go away. Grayson got to sleep on my lap while I was doing my surfing.

So that was my interesting day, such as it was. Now it's a dark, cloudy night in the field.

December 6

Oh, I'm forgetting again. I want to try to get to bed a lot earlier tonight. I wasn't early last night, and I got up around noon, so I didn't get enough sleep by far.

I wanted to get up, though, because I wanted to go to the post office and I had something to drop off at the store. I did get to do those things, and there wasn't much mail. I finally got my church directory. I wasn't very pleased with my picture when I got it, but they're all about equally bad, so I feel better about it. It was a pretty good picture of my shawl. There was also a nice Christmas present from the anonymous person in Traverse City. It helps a lot.

The weather was very cold, or it was when I was outside. It seems the temperature dropped all day and it's 17º now. Until about 5:00 PM, there was a strong north wind, with gusts up to 33 mph, so the wind chills were pretty low. It was cloudy and dull all day.

The cats slept. Grayson slept on me for a while, but not too long. I don't know why one day he wants to sit on me all the time and the next day he doesn't. I think Louie is still up at the north end.

So it was a very quiet day again, which I like, and now it's a very dark, very cold night in the field.

December 5

Not much to report. I was late getting to bed and late getting up. For once, I took my bath before I ate. For as long as I've been an adult, I have always taken my bath at night. I like to go to bed clean, and besides, the hot water relaxes me if I need relaxing. But lately, I've been so tired when I got up to the bathroom that I just couldn't face that chore. So I did it today. I'm happy to say that it wasn't very hard. I can reach under my right arm now and the only problem I have is the one spot on the back of my head. Anyway, it's nice to be clean.

I was so late that I didn't do anything. I called Mary Ann, because I haven't heard from her in several weeks, ans we talked until my phone died. The cordless phone battery only has about 2½ hours on a charge. I think it should be more, but it's so old. I have another battery pack for it, and maybe I should replace it. That's long enough to talk anyway. She is well, but her husband is still having problems.

The weather was nondescript, but it was cold and dark and there was some snow. The temperature was nearly steady, with a high of 29º. There wasn't much wind until just now. On the subject of snow, I finally looked at the Keweenaw totals, which are taken at Delaware. I was surprised, because we didn't get much snow here the day before Thanksgiving, but up there, they reported over 18". I'm a bit suspicious, because they've been reporting tenths of inches this year, and I'm not sure they can actually measure that accurately, but anyway, they had a whole lot of snow in the higher elevations.

The cats slept, but Grayson was bugging me all day and I don't know why. He got to sleep on me for quite a while, but I guess it wasn't long enough.

So that was my day and now it's a cold, dark, snowy night in the field.

December 4

I almost inverted last night, so I was late getting up. I was late enough that I decided not to knit, but I played games long enough that I could have. Except that I couldn't see very well at all. My eyes were all gluey.

I was so late that I didn't do anything except for my surfing, and I did a lot of that while the talking was going on, but most of it was while I was talking to Debbie - for more than two hours. We had a good conversation, though. Oh, and I talked to the woman who owns the store and I think we straightened out my last bill. I owe her over $50 and we don't know how it happened. I will give her a check on Friday.

The weather was blah again. The temperature was nearly steady, with a high of 33º, but there was a strong north wind, with gusts up to 41 mph. I don't get any of that here at the south end, but I did notice that the lake was singing. It was dark and cloudy and I even had to turn on the kitchen lights at 3:00. We're down to 8¾ hours now, but we're losing less than 2 minutes a day. It's dark. It was so nice to see the sunshine a couple of days ago that now it seems darker in contrast.

I think the guys slept. Grayson slept on me for a while, but I was doing something when he wanted to come back. I haven't seen Louie very much except when he tried to chase Grayson out of the pile of nightgowns outside the door to the studio. I don't know why he does that - he doesn't want to sleep there.

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

December 3

I started out to be relatively early to bed last night, but then I started surfing and I was late. Maybe having that phone with me all the time isn't such a good idea after all. I now have passwords stored for several of the sites I use most frequently. Only I won't ever go to my bank on that device in anything less than a catastrophe. I do not trust Apple or Verizon. Especially when I read what happens if I enable Siri! Wow! NO WAY will I do that!

I think I got up around noon, and I knitted, but only two rows, because I discovered that I had screwed up the very first repeat on the right side. i fixed it, I think - it looks OK - but I decided not to push it. I think it happened because I have such a hard time seeing when I first wake up, and the yarn is very dark purple, which means it's hard to see the stitches anyway. But then I started playing with the phone again, so I was very late leaving the north end. In fact, I was so late that I didn't do anything else. I embroidered while the talking was going on (I'm having coordination problems between my right and left hands again) but mostly I worked on the border. I'm working on a diamond shaped thing with a crown on top of it and i think I should be able to finish it tomorrow.

The weather was nondescript - cloudy and dark. There was about an inch of new snow on the garage roof this morning, but I expect most of it melted, because the temperature was over freezing for most of the day and the high was 35º. There wasn't much wind for most of the day, but it has shifted around to the north and it is now blowing at a steady 20 mph, and the lake effect machine is supposed to get going tonight and tomorrow.

The guys slept, of course. Grayson didn't even try to sit on me, which surprised me. He sat on the desk for most of the day. I don't know where Louie was.

So that was it. Now it's a cold, dark night in the field and there is snow coming - or here.

December 2

I was medium late last night, but I didn't sleep well again. I was uncomfortable and my feet were cold. I did take my pills, so I don't know what the problem was. I finally got some quality time after about 6:00 AM. I knitted the last four rows of the first repeat on the shawl - finally - and when I looked at it, I discovered that I'd made a lot of mistakes, including dropping one stitch. I was able to sort of fix it, though, and I doubt anybody will ever look closely enough at it to see what I did. I'm more comfortable with the pattern now and I know most of the gotchas, so it should go more easily from now on. I like the pattern, and it's working well with the yarn and needles I finally decided on. There are a couple of things that are difficult, but I know what they are.

That was about all I did, except that I spent a little money. I needed a bunch of household stuff from Walmart, including TP, so I got that. Lands' End was having an exceptional sale, so I succumbed and ordered a new pair of jeans. My jeans are all at least 15 years old and they're getting sort of ratty, and they're all those bleached colors that were fashionable then. I've wanted to get at least one pair of new ones in a darker color for quite some time, but a number of years ago, they doubled the price and even with their usual 40% off, they were too expensive. They had 55% off everything today, and it was too good to pass up. Now I have to hope they fit when I get them, but we'll see about that. I don't pay as much attention to fashion as I did 15 or more years ago, but I don't like to look like I was in a time warp. I actually prefer the lighter color jeans, but the ones I ordered aren't so dark they look black.

Anyway, that took most of the afternoon. After I got the cat off my lap, I embroidered during the talking. I did several very small motifs and started the next larger one, although most of the ones in this part of the pattern aren't as big as the ones in the first half. I made hearts and squares and a crown and there are flowers and birds to go. That's what makes it a fun thing to do.

When I was up around 3:00 this morning, when I looked out the front windows, it was so clear and starry I could hardly believe it. i didn't know what I was looking at until I looked at the star chart, but evidently I was seeing Andromeda and Perseus. Without my glasses, I can't see really well, but I think I was seeing third magnitude stars easily. In fact, when I was up again at 6:00, I looked out the north windows and not only could I see the two end stars in the Little Dipper, I think I could catch the brighter of the two on the other side of the bowl part. It's been a long time since it's been that clear!

It was clear all day, too. The temperature got down to 21º overnight, but when the sun came up, it rose rapidly to 37º, between 1:00 and 2:00 PM, but then it dropped back rather quickly for some reason, but it's sort of bounced around. There wasn't any wind. It was clear and blue all day and when it got dark, there was a nice crescent moon shining in the south windows. Unfortunately, this won't last much longer and we're in for more snow. It sure was nice to see the sunshine.

The guys slept, of course. Grayson slept on me until I twitched and he moved. I should have twitched earlier. When I went out toward the kitchen to get my dinner, he ran by me just as I put my foot down and I almost stepped on his feet - and I wet my pants. I wish he wouldn't do that. Sometime he's going to get us both in trouble. I think Louie has been up at the north end. While I was knitting this morning, he was asleep on the floor beside me and purring in his sleep.

So that was my day and now it's a clear (so far) cold night in the field.

December 1

Ooh, how I hate to write that date!

I had a terrible night last night, and at the time I thought it was because I was so upset over my lost files. Well, not quite. When I finally got to the studio this morning, I discovered I hadn't taken my evening pills last night. For the second time this week. Just in case the health providers don't think I really need that stuff, well, think again. So I didn't sleep well and I don't feel good. Besides, I've been sneezing again. Geez.

Anyway, eventually, I did get some sleep, but not enough, and when I got up, I knitted two rows. I'd had an accident on my way to bed last night, and I had another one right after breakfast - 30 seconds from being fine to all over the place. It's discouraging. Fortunately, I washed a load of bottoms yesterday and dried them overnight.

I did my surfing, but there weren't very many emails to read. I think there was something wrong with PastyNet, because around 10:30 tonight, I suddenly got a whole slew of new emails, including a lot I should have gotten overnight and during the day. I wish I could trade their clogged server for my unclogged gut...

Then I started trying to write. On reflection, I decided that a lot of what can remember of what I wrote that night wasn't right, but I've had a terrible time going forward. Now that I'm calmed down a bit, I think I'll let it lie a while before I do any more.

Writing is frustrating for me sometimes. I want to write, because I want to see how a story is going to come out, but there are times when it's nearly impossible for me to move forward, and then I have to wait, re-read what I've written and wait for the next idea to hit. I don't think a lot of what I wrote today is very good or moves the story forward much, but I'll know more tomorrow when I read what I wrote. I'm going to let it lie tonight.

The weather was so-so. We didn't get very much snow, although I think they did down around the airport. We had some wind, from the east with gusts up to 32 mph. The temperature was around 31º or 32º all day. It was very cloudy until around 2;00 PM, when the skies started to clear, and it was nearly clear at sunset. We all enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine. And there was a nice crescent moon in the south windows after dark.

Otherwise, we slept. When I came out of the bathroom, Grayson had curled up in the covers on my bed, and I can't tell you how comfy he looked. That's his winter place to sleep while I'm in the bathroom. I don't know where Louie was, unless he was so far under the bed I couldn't see him.

So that was my quiet day. And yes, I've already specifically saved the file. I'm hoping I can train myself to do that every night. I don't know why this hasn't happened before, but I want to try to prevent it from ever happening again!

It's a clear (I think) cold night in the field. And it's December. Wow, talk about a lost year...

Ooh1 When I went to save this thing, I discovered that somehow I had managed to delete all of November. What in the world is happening to my files???

Last updated 12/11/19 10:29 PM