journal

A View From the Field

July 14

I managed to get to bed by 9:15 last night, amazingly enough. I slept fairly well, but I was asleep when the alarm went off. I got up, of course, and I kept moving, so I left right about 9:00.

The ride down to Laurium was excruciating, as it frequently is in the summertime. i had to pass one guy at the end of the covered road who was hitting his brakes - not slowing down, just hitting them - on every curve and hill, and then I had to follow (fourth car back) a camper that was going about 35 mph from Mohawk to Laurium. Aarrgghhh...

So I got to church reasonably early, and I discovered that there had indeed been choir on Thursday - Kathleen had gotten confused - but we probably didn't miss much. Church was good. Pastor's sermon gave me some useful insights into the story of the Good Samaritan. We didn't have quite as many people take communion as we anticipated, but it was a lot. I was having a hard time getting up by the end of the service and I had a terrible time getting into the sacristy to clean up.

Then Pastor and I started talking and we were still talking after 1:00. I got a chuckle when the phone rang and it was his wife, asking where he was and inviting me to lunch. Talk about a sneaky way to get me to leave...It's very kind of them to invite me, but I don't think I can get into their house, and besides, I was tired and I needed to get home.

I was so tired that I didn't visit the restroom before i left, so I overflowed a bit. I sat for a little while in the bathroom, trying to play solitaire, and I kept trying to fall asleep, so finally I got up and crawled into bed. I didn't get into a completely deep sleep, because every time I started, I started to snore and woke myself up. My sinuses were draining today. Man, do I snore loudly!

After I got up, I started reading, and here I am, much too late. I finally had something to eat, and now I have to go to bed. Soon.

The weather was nicer than they were forecasting. The high temperature here was 78º twice, with a dip down to 68º between and there was a light southwest wind. It was well over 80º in Laurium when I left. It started out clear this morning and clouded up as the day went on, but so far we haven't had the thunderstorms they were predicting. We could use the rain and I could use a power glitch, so maybe it will happen overnight. The humidity was rather low - under 60%, so I don't know why I hurt so much.

The guys mostly slept. Oh, the guys...when I got to the studio this morning, my salt shaker was on the floor and so, I discovered, was a half-cup jar of peppercorns. The lid on the jar had broken and there were peppercorns all over the place. Still are, actually, even though I got most of it picked up. Have you ever spilled whole pepper on a hard floor? Ugh! Anyway, somebody had been very busy overnight. Neither of those things were very close to the edge of the counter, so he had to do it deliberately. All I can figure is that something I did or didn't do got somebody upset, so he decided to take it out on me. He didn't get any lap time today.

So that was my quiet Sunday and now i really must go to bed. It's a cloudy night in the field and it might rain...or not.

July 13

I turned out the light at about 11:00 for a change, but I didn't sleep as well as I'd hoped. I'm not sure why. I was up four or five times and it took me a while to go back to sleep. A couple of times, I only dozed. I think I got up around 8:00, which should have been enough sleep, but I felt groggy and headachy when i got up.

However, I did my thing, and I got to church before 11:00 - so did Deanna. It took us 45 minutes. I decided we'd better fill three trays - we are having a group tomorrow - and she had to change all the candles. I got home about 1:00, I think.

The other task of the day was to wash a load of underwear and other white things. I finally ran out of underpants. Since I've been having fewer accidents lately, I haven't been washing small loads as much, so the panties finally gave out. It's in the washer and I will put it in the dryer when I go up to the north end. If I close the door to the laundry, the noise doesn't keep me awake.

The weather turned out quite nice. The highest temperature so far reported is 71º. They only report the actual high (which may be other than the hourly readings) every six hours, and I'm not going to wait two hours to see if it got warmer. There was a nice north breeze, in the 15 mph range with gusts up to 25 mph. The day started out very cloudy, but by the time I started for Laurium it was clearing up and by the time I got home it was quite clear. The humidity got low for a while - the dew point has been between 50º and 55º all day - so the relative humidity has gone up and down with the temperature. Anyway, it was a nice day.

The guys were sleepy, and they both slept on me. Grayson got to sit twice, and Louie came and turned over so I could rub his tummy. The second time Grayson came, I got after him with the comb, and I got an amazing amount of fur out of his back and one side. I will have to remember to work on the other side the next time he sits with it up.

So that was my day, and even though it's early, I'm going up to the north end and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour and get enough sleep for tomorrow. It's a clear, warm, breezy night in the field.

July 12

Well, mostly due to Debbie and our long conversation, I was much later getting to bed than I wanted to be, and I didn't get up until after 11:00. At least I got my 9 hours. I knitted on the black sweater - I was too late to start casting on 623 stitches (I reread the directions, not that 30 stitches matter much).

I was so late that I didn't eat until after the post office was closed, so Debbie's elbow warmer didn't get sent. I was so late that I didn't do anything. The underwear situation is getting dire, but I didn't have time to do that today.

I am going to bed at a semi-reasonable hour tonight, because I have to be at church at 11:00 tomorrow morning

The weather turned out nice. There was a very little bit of rain between 9:00 and 11:00 this morning, but then it began to clear up and the afternoon was nice. The temperature evidently got up to 79º briefly (no wonder I was hot!) and the humidity was in the low 60% range. Now that it's getting dark, the gibbous moon is shining brightly in the south windows. It was breezy this morning, but now the wind is very light, but not quite calm.

The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time and Louie got some loving this morning. They were both startled when the Schwan's guy came, but Louie actually stuck his head out of the cat hole in the basement door to look at him. I don't think he will ever be as gregarious as Grayson is, but I keep seeing little signs that he is getting not quite as timid as he used to be.

So it was a very quiet day and now I'm going to bed. It's a warm, sort of clear evening in the field.

July 11

Oops. I just got off a looong conversation with Debbie, and I almost forgot I have to write. I was going to go to bed early tonight. Hah.

I was late last night, of course, but I got my bath. It was a little harder than the last time, but I still think I'm making progress. I got up late and I knitted on the black sweater. Tonight I'm taking some lace yarn and patterns with me, and I'll decide what pattern to do tomorrow.

I was still at the north end when Mary Ann called, and she mentioned that she had gotten an email from our choir director saying there was no choir tonight. Oh? I guess I remember hearing that, but it was sort of vague. I'm glad we didn't find out about it after we got there.

I had to ask for her help, though. Right after I got up, a smoke alarm started beeping. I thought it was the one in my bedroom, but at any rate, I was going to have to get help to get a new battery into it. She came later in the afternoon, got the ladder and we changed the battery I thought was dead...and something kept beeping. Oh, groan. I was very glad I bought two batteries a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that it was the one that was beeping after the power failure, and all I can figure is that it was an old battery. It was so nice of her to do that! Those things are so noisy, and when they are signaling dead battery, they chirp at random intervals, which would have driven me batty at night.

She also brought me my mail, so technically I don't have to go to the post office tomorrow. I will because I want to send Debbie's thing to her, and I have a bill to pay.

The weather was cool but nice. It's the first time in quite a while when it was clear and blue all day and clear tonight. The high temperature apparently got up to 70º, briefly late in the day, but for most of the time it was in the low 60s. The wind was mostly from the north in the 10-15 mph range. It wasn't very humid, either. Very nice. While I was talking to Debbie, in the dark, I saw some light and when I looked out, there was the half (well, a tad more than half) moon shining in the window and what I think is Jupiter off to its east, very bright and pretty. So there may be some other stars tonight.

The guys were happy to see Mary Ann. Grayson is happy to see anybody, and Louie likes her because she smells like dog. So I can't go away, but they wish other people would come here. Huh. Otherwise, Grayson wanted to sit on me. Louie may have had that idea, but he didn't get a chance.

So it was a quiet day except for all the beeping. The ovens were beeping again. Now it's a clear, cool night in the field and I'm going to bed now.

July 10

So late again. I didn't sleep as well as I might have, and I think it was probably because it was warm at the north end. I got up around 9:30 and I finished the elbow warmer. Woo-hoo!! I think it came out all right. I will try to get it packed up and off to Debbie on Friday.

I want to start a shawl - it's been too long since I've knit lace - but the one I want to make starts out "cast on 651 stitches" and I'm a bit intimidated by that. One reason I want to make it, though, is that it starts at the bottom and decreased to nothing at the top and I haven't made one like that in a long time. The only one i made was the brown one, and that was a bit different. Probably not tomorrow, though. I still have the Z-socks and the black sweater that I can knit on. I'd like to finish the socks, too.

The task of the day was the bulletin, and while I was a bit late, I got it out. it wasn't a big deal, except to pull together all the emails I'd gotten. I did discover that a sentence about modifying the prayer list had somehow gotten dropped over a month ago and I never noticed until today. It's back in now.

The weather was clearer than it's been in quite a while, and it was a nice change...until it wasn't. It started out smoky, according to the picture archive, but around 9:30 it cleared up nicely and it was partly cloudy with a lot of sunshine until around 3:30. i thought it was because the wind shifted north and picked up, but that doesn't seem to be the reason. Anyway, it clouded up after 3:30 and for the next three hours or so it was foggy. Now the fog has gone away, I think. It's hard to tell in the dark. The temperature topped out at 75º, but that was before noon, and it's been around 60º, plus or minus 5º or so, ever since. The wind has been from the north, but it's varied from calm to 25 mph gusts. The humidity has been over 80% all day, which hasn't been very comfortable.

The guys slept, of course. Grayson came to sit on me at least three times, but not for very long. I haven't seen Louie since breakfast.

I tried not taking any Tylenol this morning, and with the exception of a couple of twinges, it seems to have worked, so thankfully, I'm finally getting over my sore joints. We'll see how it is when I take my bath tonight. I can't move my shoulder very much, but it's a little better. The problem today, with the humidity, was that I can't walk. If it's not one thing...

So it was another nice, quiet day. Now it's a cool, probably cloudy night in the field.

July 9

I was a bit later getting to bed, and I didn't sleep so well. Unfortunately, I was upset by some things that are going on around me. I got up around 10:00 and I knitted on the elbow warmer. I don't think I'll finish it tomorrow, but I should be done by Thursday. Cotton yarn is never easy to knit with, but this is nice and soft and I think the thing is coming out all right.

One of the things that was bedeviling me is the fridge. I think I mentioned that I have a leak in the freezer, apparently from the ice maker. There is a thick slab of ice in the bottom of the freezer (it's a side-by-side) and I can't pull out the basket that is at the bottom. Well, yesterday I discovered that it apparently wasn't making ice. Oh, no... So I stirred things up and poked at the ice part of it and went to bed, wondering if I was looking at a very expensive emergency repair. Well, the good news is, it's making ice. I don't know what the problem was yesterday, but that does happen every so often. Usually it's because of ice buildup in one corner of the mechanism, which didn't seem to be the problem, but this has happened before. Anyway, I have ice, and I don't have to put in a panic call to Mary Ann for help in getting the kitchen in shape...at least not yet. I hate it when these things happen that put me into a panic and then turn out not to be a problem at all. I have enough real problems.

The car is another one.

I didn't do anything much, but while the talking was going on, I finally - finally!! - sat down with my cross stitch and embroidered for about three hours. Oh, it felt so good! This is an unusual pattern in that it is all one color except for, I think, one stitch way at the bottom. The reason it isn't terminally boring is that the patterns are extremely intricate and figuring out how to stitch them is a challenge. I hope I can continue to work on it. It's a huge thing on very fine linen, so it will take a very long time to do, but so far it's held my interest.

It was a warm day in the field, but not, thankfully, as warm as it was at the airport. The high temperature was 82º, and the only thing that made it at all tolerable was the nice south breeze, in the 10 to 15 mph range. It is still very smoky, but there was a bit of sunshine for a change, early in the day before the smoke got thick. I think part of the reason it got so smoky is that it's apparently raining up in Manitoba, which is putting out the fires but making more smoke. The humidity was quite tolerable, at least until lately. The forecast is for thunderstorms for the next 24 or 36 hours. We need the rain, but I could do without the noise...and the possible power outages.

Actually, I would like a power outage. My ovens have been beeping at me again, and yesterday when I tried to see if they still worked, none of the controls worked. That was another thing that depressed me. This is a problem I've had for quite a few years, and according to the manual, the first thing to do is turn off the power to the ovens. Well... No way can I reach the plug, which is behind them, and with my problems, no way can i just run downstairs and trip the circuit breaker. In the past, a nice power failure has reset things. I know it's a short circuit someplace in the control, having to do with the humidity, but those oven controls are very expensive. I hardly ever use the big ovens, so what has caused the problem is beyond me. When I went to get my dinner, they had stopped beeping, but I didn't test them to see if they work now. If they don't, it's something else on the list of things that nave to be fixed...some things just don't fit in the countertop oven. Sigh.

The guys didn't do anything interesting. Grayson slept on my lap for a long time, but I think it finally got too hot for him. I haven't seen Louie since this morning, but he would probably sleep on the tile in the bathroom, where it's a bit cooler.

So it was another quiet day and now it's a warm, cloudy night in the field and we may get a nice thunderstorm before morning...or not.

July 8

I was in bed by midnight last night. It will be a bit later tonight. I slept well, except for a while early in the morning because there was a mosquito. I think I dispatched it after I got up, but we'll see tonight. It, or it's fellows, did me some damage, though, and I have several new bites on my arms. Everybody agrees that this is an incredibly buggy summer. Well, it's not paradise yet...

It was a quiet day and I didn't do much. I did the elbow bump on Debbie's elbow warmer and few more rows. I paid the rest of my monthly bills, so I am now poor again. How I'm going to pay those taxes, I do not know. Well..."The Lord has helped me hitherto with his surpassing favor..."

Debbie called just about the time I was planning to get my dinner, but we didn't talk for too long. She is fine and both her sons graduated college this spring and have gotten good jobs, but one of them has moved out of town, which she doesn't like. When I told her about the bugs, she was just as glad she didn't come for the Fourth.

The weather was a bit warmer than lately, which was nice. It's still very smoky, but we have a southwest wind now, and maybe that will blow some of it away. If not, there's rain in the forecast for Wednesday, and that will help, too. The temperature got to 77º between 3:00 and 4:00 PM - no wonder it felt so good - and the humidity got under 50% for a change. It's cooler and more humid now, though, with that breeze. There was a little sunshine peering through the haze, but mostly it was dull and white, like it's been for over a week. One time when I woke up, I saw a hazy crescent moon in the west.

I saw both of the guys. Grayson got to sit on me for a while, and here comes Louie. They are happy campers as long as I'm home and not rustling around too much.

So m I. It's a nice, comfortable existance.

Now it's a coolish (61º) smoky night in the field. I wonder if I'll get to see the moon tonight?

July 7

I was rather surprised last night that i was able to take a more normal bath with only a little pain. There is still a place on the back of my head that I can't reach and I can't get all the way under my right arm, but it wasn't nearly as hard as it was on Wednesday. I think the humidity had something to do with it. I'm hoping.

I turned out the light at 9:45 and I slept fairly well, with the usual wakeups. Then I woke up at 5:30. Oh, that makes me mad when it happens! I can't go back to sleep when I have to pee, and it's hardly worthwhile to get back in bed for only 15 minutes or so of bed time (I wouldn't get back to sleep) so I got up.

That should have meant I had plenty of time, but I diddled around and besides, there were a lot of very slow drivers on the road this morning. I keep forgetting what it's like in the summertime...

So I missed most of the practice, but it didn't matter much because we did a good enough job on our song that Kathleen gave us a thumbs- up. It was nice. The whole service was nice. Pastor chose some of our favorite hymns and there are a lot of summer people here now.

Oh, and the ladies who are supposed to be on Altar Duty next week are going to be out of town, and Deanna is going to be out the next week, which is when we're scheduled, so we switched. That's fine with me - I'm not going anyplace. It's also nice because those ladies don't greet, so we won't have to do that this time. Not that I mind it, except that it means standing for half an hour or more and that's hard for me.

So that all came out well, except that I was so tired after the service that I almost couldn't get off the toilet, even with Stuart's new grab bar. Ugh.

It was ugh, because I had to do some shopping. When I shopped last week, I thought I had two jugs of OJ, but when I looked, I only had one, and I would be running out sometime this week. There were a couple of other things I wanted to get - turned out to be more than I thought, as usual. So I went off to Pat's and did a lot of damage, but now I should be good until the first of August. I try to plan ahead as much as I can, and this month, the church picnic is on the 28th, and I don't go to that, so I won't be going down that weekend.

Then I got gas, and it was around 2:30, I think, when i got home. It was a slow drive, because I got behind someone who was on a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon drive and didn't want to go more than 35 mph on the covered road... There were three cars in front of me and they were all just as frustrated as I was.

I was totally exhausted when I finally got the car unloaded, but I've gotten most of the stuff into the house, except for the OJ and the bananas (I had a strong yen for a banana last week). I went up to the north end and just sat for several hours, as it turned out.

These days, I can't sit for too long, because if I do, my hip gets so sore I have to move. While those raised seats make it easier (not easy) to get off of, they put my hips at an odd angle that makes the right one extremely sore if I sit too long. For one who, for most of her life, has spent an extremely long time sitting in the bathroom, this is difficult and I still haven't come to terms with it.

The weather was blah again, but most of the blah was because of the smoke, which was just as heavy as it was yesterday, and that made it dull and gray all day. I just discovered that the camera hung up, but I don't know quite when, because all the pictures look the same. The high temperature was only 61º and that was between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning. It was in the upper 50s for most of the day and it was very humid - over 80%. The only good thing about that is that it sort of lays the bugs. I brought one mosquito in with me - I finally got it, I think - and I don't think I got any new bites. There was almost no wind. The wind is supposed to be from the south tomorrow, and although it will be light, I'm hoping it will clear things up. One problem with the smoke is that the fires are northwest of us, in Manitoba, and of course, the jet stream blows right from that direction. It was really thick today. So sad.

The guys were difficult today. They both wanted to sit on me and they both wanted to poke holes in me, so we had a difference of opinion and they finally had to go away. Louie's claws are much bigger than Grayson's and they're nearly as sharp, which hurts. And Grayson wants to knead my front when he sits on me, and that hurts, too. Ouch.

So that was another day. Now it's a cool, smoky night in the field.

July 6

I forgot to mention yesterday that I encountered that deer that hangs around our road, close to US-41 on my way home from the post office. Or maybe it wasn't the same deer, because this one was rather large, and some of the ones I've seen are smaller, or I think they are.

I was late, of course, but I think I got to bed around 1:30 or 2:00. I slept well, except for a while between 6:00 and 8:30, and then I went back to sleep and didn't get up until 10:30. For once, I felt like I had enough sleep, and it was nice.

I forgot to take the phone with me, so I got right at the elbow warmer, and I've done the top half. I tried to start the elbow bump, but I screwed it up and had to rip it out, so I decided to wait for another day to do it over. I think it's coming out pretty good. It's very hard to get a consistent tension with cotton yarn, but it seems to look mostly all right.

That was all I did. I felt better today, but not that good.

I spent some time looking out at the nice crop of lupines I have growing on the north side of the house these days. It's curious, because while I think I probably did sow some there, that was in 2001 or 2002, and only in the past two or three years have there been any plants and flowers. I've heard that it's hard to get lupines started, but 15 years? Anyway, it's so nice to see them. Once they get started, I think they are tough, so I expect they'll always be there, the tansy notwithstanding. Not only do I love the beautiful blue flowers, I love their leaves. That's all that's left of the 5 lb of wildflower seeds I sowed back at the beginning, but at least I have them. Well...there used to be some Sweet William, too, but I haven't seen any of that this year.

The weather was blah again. It was mostly cloudy, or it looked like clouds, but in fact it was smoke from some large fires up in Manitoba, on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. The GOES imagery, which I get from the NWS site, shows clearly a swath of smoke right over us. You know, this never used to happen. The high temperature, at least so far, was (or is) 62º, and there has been almost no wind.

The guys slept. They both got some loving - which they wanted - and Grayson got to sit on me for a while. I think they like it when it's cooler, just like I do.

So that's all I have to report. It's a dull, gray, but not very warm, evening in the field and i have to shower. Oh, dear.

July 5

I didn't eat dinner until after the fireworks were over, so of course I was late. i slept well until around 8:00, but after that, my shoulder was so sore I was twitchy. I think I got up around 9:30. I knitted on the elbow warmer, but my shoulder was so sore it was hard.

I was enough back on schedule that I got to go to the post office, where there were a whole lot of bills, including my summer taxes. Shudder. Taxes never go down.

The weather was miserable, frankly. The temperature only got to 66º, but the humidity was over 85% all day, and since it was hot in the house, it meant I was sweating a lot. I am right now. It was mostly cloudy and there was a wind from the north in the 10-15 mph range, and i opened the bathroom window when I was up there, which should help, but I'm very uncomfortable. When I'm sweating, I'm as wet as if I'd just stepped out of the shower and when I'm not sweating, I'm all sticky and icky. I wish it was easier to take a shower, because I would love to, but it's just so hard...

When I finally got to bed, it was extremely foggy, which made for some really interesting effects with the lighthouse light, but there wasn't any fog today.

I didn't see much of the cats. Louie got some petting this morning and Grayson was around, but he found out yesterday that it's too hot to sit on my lap.

So that was another nice, quiet day, and now it's a coolish, cloudy, humid night in the field.

July 4 - Independence Day

Of course I was ridiculously late again. It's so hard and so painful to take a shower that I just try to postpone it as long as possible. I didn't get up until noon and I knitted 16 rows on Debbie's elbow warmer. It seems to be going fairly well, but we'll see as it gets longer. I'm having less trouble with the cotton yarn than I anticipated. It doesn't stretch, but this one is smooth enough that it doesn't adhere to itself very much and it slides back and forth enough that I can knit fairly easily. I think it will turn out all right. i only hope she likes it.

I was so late that I didn't do anything else.

The fireworks were lovely, what I saw of them. I diddled around too long and then I had to visit the bathroom, so I wasn't watching when they started - a couple of minutes early. Then I got all tangled up in my underpants and my sandals and I got very frustrated. Eventually I was able to get into the bedroom in time to see most of it. The only thing was, there was a wisp of fog across the harbor, and when they started setting off the grand finale, there was so much smoke that I couldn't see a lot of what was going on behind it. It was fun anyway.

The weather forecasters got it all wrong. The high temperature got up to 84º sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 PM - much warmer than they said it would - then it dropped off until at 9:00 it was 60º. It was extremely humid - over 80% after the temperature dropped - and there was no wind, which is why all that smoke is hanging over the harbor. The day started out clear, but by 3:00, it had clouded up. There were some strong thunderstorms south of us, but it didn't even rain here, I think.

I think the guys slept. Grayson did sleep on me for a while, but I think it was too warm for him, because he jumped up and went away. I didn't see Louie until after the fireworks were over. I don't think they hid or anything. There weren't any down at this end of the harbor - my neighbors have settled down a lot in the past few years - and the others were far enough away that they weren't bothersome. I'm sure they wondered why I was sitting on the other side of the bed facing the windows, but I do a lot of weird things.

So that was my day and now I've eaten and I'm tired. it's a warmish, cloudy, humid night in the field.

July 3

I was ridiculously late getting to bed, as I knew i would be. I went right to sleep and I slept for about 4 hours, but then I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I think I got up around 11:30.

I started Debbie's elbow warmer, although I cast it on five times before I got it right, so I only knitted 4 rows. It will go fast, and I'm doing the pattern as I go. I don't want it to be just a long tube, because there's an elbow in the way there, so it will have a crook in it. We'll see how it comes out. The yarn is cotton and linen, which means it's very hard to knit, since the yarn doesn't stretch at all, or if it does, it doesn't spring back. We'll see how it comes out. At least the color is nice.

Otherwise, I was so late that I didn't do anything. I was eating my first meal when the talking came on, and I just finished dinner. Tonight I have to wash my hair - and me - so I'll probably be late again. I will have to start clawing myself back onto a reasonable schedule, but not so much until after tomorrow. There's those fireworks...

The weather was just about the same as it has been lately. The high temperature was 70º, but that was overnight, and it only got to 69º during the day. It was yo-yoing all day. There wasn't much wind until lately. It was very humid, although we didn't have any fog today. It started out clear and lovely, but some clouds moved in during the day and I'm not sure it will clear up tonight.

The guys sort of left me alone after I gave them some canned food. Grayson didn't even come to sit on me, and I didn't see Louie at all after that. I guess maybe they've decided things are back to normal again so they don't have to cling to me. Grayson did come when I had my dinner, but he wasn't interested in the juice from my fish and he went away when I finished.

So that was all there was and now it's a coolish, probably cloudy night in the field.

July 2

Well, I completely lost track of time - the music was very nice - so I'm going to be very late tonight.

I wasn't early last night, either, mostly, I think, because I was too tired to move. Then when I finally got to bed, I was so cold - I think that happened last Monday night, too - that it took me a while and a walk to the bathroom before I got to sleep. Once I did, though, I slept well, and this time, I read the clock right. I think it was around 10:30 when I finally got up.

i finally - finally!! - got to knit, and I finished the red socks!! Now it's too warm to wear them, because they're wool. But I will have a lovely new pair of socks to wear next fall when it gets cold. The way I finally made them, I had quite a lot of yarn left over, but I wasn't going to fiddle, since I essentially had to knit them twice.

Oh, and I itch. By the time I got in from the garage last night, I had managed to acquire more than a dozen (14, I think) extremely itchy bug bites. Since they're so new, I can't tell which are mosquitoes and which are black flies, but it doesn't matter much anymore. They will itch for two to three days and then I can go out and get some more. I think it happened partly because the garage door didn't go down again when I left, so all the bugs in the neighborhood flew in before I got home.

There was a mosquito in the bathroom, too, and one in the studio, although they might be the same. I finally managed to bag the one in the studio, and I'll be interested to see if there is still one in the bathroom. Fortunately, they move slow enough that sometimes I can squish them. I think I bring them in in my hair.

The task of the day was to get the bulletin put together, and I managed that by 2:00 PM, and my editor accepted it, so I guess I did a decent job. '

Then after the talking, I started listening to the nice music, reading and playing games, and I completely lost track of time. I love to do that, but I wish it was for a better reason. Now I've finally had something to eat, so as soon as I finish this, I can go to bed, but it's late...and they're playing Sibelius...

The weather was, um, early-summer-like. The fog moved in about 10:30 and didn't leave until after 4:45. The high temperature was 71º, but that was early this morning, and it was in the low 60s for the rest of the day. There was no wind, and of course the humidity was over 80% all day. Above the fog, it was clear. It was clear overnight, too, but I didn't get to see much of it.

Oh, I forgot. I watched the eclipse. The La Silla Observatory in Chile was streaming it live, and this year I have a browser that can handle it, so I got to watch. I wouldn't say they did the best job with their choice of camera shots, but I did get to see the corona and a landscape with that black dot in the sky. And it was fun to hear everybody cheering when totality started. Like it makes any difference, but I'm sure if I'd been there I would have cheered, too. Such a simple thing is so awe-inspiring.

The guys slept, I guess. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie came around when I was doing something else, so he didn't. He walked in front of the screen and over to the open window, kicking things around as he went. He is not the most graceful cat I've ever known. Grayson is, but he will kick something aside just to annoy me. They are so funny.

So that was my day. It's nice to get back to something like normal again. After five consecutive days of having to go to Calumet/Laurium, it was nice for all of us for me to be home all day.

Now it's a cool, clear night in the field and I really need to go to bed! But there's that Sibelius...

July 1

I was a bit later than I intended last night, and I was so tired that I slept well. I woke up at what I thought was 11:30, but when I got into the bathroom, it was only 9:30! I must check the bedroom clock tonight to see if some little feet have been walking on the buttons. It was probably just that I was having a hard time seeing.

That gave me a little more time to do some things, although I didn't knit because I hoped that the information for the funeral had come through overnight and I wanted to get that out as soon as I could. It wasn't a bad job, but Pastor said he would print it and i didn't think he needed to worry about that, so I both emailed and called him to say that I would print it.

To do that, I left a bit earlier than I originally intended, but Mary Ann wasn't going, so it worked out. I'm so used to my slow printer that having a regular office copier available is a real joy. It didn't take any time at all to print 20 copies, even though I started out on the wrong side. Then I had to cut the sheets in half. Even though I'm old and I have a paper cutter of my own, I am terrified of those things, and I always have been, from the time I was a little kid. That huge, heavy sharp knife really intimidates me.

Choir was good, and I think we'll be able to sing our song on Sunday, although we'll practice before church. We sang a bunch of other stuff, of course, but I was home by 9:00.

Then I heated up the cast iron skillet and started pan frying my lamb chop - and the smoke alarm in the hallway went off! Sheesh! That's never happened before! I turned on the range hood, which I should have done anyway, but I couldn't do anything to stop the alarm. Thankfully, it finally stopped on its own, but it sure shook up the troops. And my chop wasn't badly overcooked. I must remember to turn on the hood when I start heating the skillet after this. I guess there was more grease in the pan than I thought. Oh, the chop was pretty good.

The weather was cloudy and dull all day, although it began to clear around the time I got home. The high temperature was 73º, but that was between 5:00 and 6:00 AM, and it cooled off into the 60s after that. There was very little wind. Sort of blah.

The guys are not happy, particularly after I went away for the fifth day in a row, and then when I got home, that awful noise started! Grayson got a lot of lap time, but he just wanted to sit on me all day. Louie just wanted love, and he is still going after Grayson.

So I got a bunch more insect bites tonight, and I itch. Now I can hibernate for the rest of the week. That will make all of us happier. It's a coolish, clear (I think) night in the field. And it's July. Sigh.

Last updated 07/15/19 01:05 AM