journal

A View From the Field

October 16

So I inverted last night and there wasn't time to do anything today.

The weather was cool. The high temperature was only 54º and there was a brisk north wind with gusts that got up to 36 mph when we had a sprits of rain between 2 and 3 PM. Otherwise it was a mix of clouds and sun. The camera hung up early this morning, so we didn't get to see it. It was partly to mostly cloudy at sunset and I didn't see the moon, although it may be too high to see in the windows.

Grayson whined at me all the time I was in the bathroom and he even danced for me a little bit. I don't know that I've ever seen him do that before, although he has been running down the hallway lately. He got to sit on me in the bathroom and again just now. I guess he feels pretty good.

So that's all there is and now I have to decide whether to take a bath tonight or tomorrow and fill the pill dispensers. It's a cool, windy night in the field.

October 15

Well, I wasn't quite as late last night, but I didn't sleep as well, either. I don't know why. I knitted, but that was about all I did.

The weather has turned cool. The high temperature was only 59º and for most of the day there was a brisk northwest wind, with gusts as high as 28 mph. It was cloudy in the morning, but after about 2 PM, it cleared up a bit and there was some sunshine. After dark, there was a nice gibbous moon shining in the south windows. I think it's up over the house now.

I took my time about getting dressed and Grayson was getting annoyed with me before I finally fed him. Of course, he wanted some of what I had, too, but he didn't get any.

So it was another quiet, lost day and now it's a partly cloudy, cool night in the field.

October 14

Pretty much ditto yesterday.

There was some sunshine today, as well as a brisk northwest wind, with gusts up to 31 mph. The high temperature was 65º, but it was in the morning and it cooled down to around 60º in the afternoon. i reset the ends of the camera pictures again - by an hour, which may be too much - but before I turned out the lights, there was a half moon shining in the windows for a little while, before it went away.

Grayson was his usual self.

So now it's a cool, probably cloudy night in the field and I must go to bed.

October 13

So I read entirely too long, made one of the worst messes ever and was extremely late getting to bed. Sigh.

I did something I haven't had to do in a while - I washed a load of tees. Almost all my dark-colored tees were dirty - or at least well-used - so they are now waiting to go in the dryer. i have lots of stuff to put away and, of course, another load of bottoms to do, but at least I'll have my tees. Today I'm wearing one I almost forgot about. It's heavy and ribbed, and it sort of expands and contracts, so it doesn't look quite as big as some of the other tops. It has kind of a v-neck, so it's not quite as warm, too. The only problem is, it's a dull gray-blue that doesn't go with jeans very well. Well, I'm picky about my colors. Always have been.

The weather was cool and cloudy. There was a teensy bit of rain between 1 and 2 PM, but otherwise, it was just ridiculously humid again. The high temperature was 61º and there was almost no wind. It was cloudy and dull.

Grayson didn't do anything of note.

So now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field.

October 12

I was earlier last night, but not early. I was reading. This morning, I knitted, and I turned the corner. Now I only have 42 more repeats to do and I'll be done with this thing, thankfully! I learned a few things about knitting shawls, but I'm not sure it was worth it. The next one will be in a light color.

I didn't do a lot more, but the bulletin information came in early so I got that right out. It was so easy, I'm not sure I didn't forget something, but maybe my proofreaders will catch anything I missed.

The weather was cool, damp and windy. It started raining about 2 AM and didn't stop until noon, although I think there were sprinkles all day. The high temperature was only 60º and the wind was from the northeast with gusts up to 31 mph. It's been a while since the lake was singing to us, but it has been all day.

Grayson didn't do anything amazing, except that he slept on my lap for a while. He has been rather vocal today, and I don't know why. He's another cat like my first cat: he has a high, melodious voice and he can sing very sweetly - or he can yell.

So that's all there was and now it's a cool, moist, windy night in the field.

October 11

Oh, I did it again. I was reading and time just passed. Then I got up late and played games and time passed some more. I finally got my bath, but that's all I did.

The camera got scrambled, so I can't even report much on the weather. I think it was mostly clear for a time this afternoon and when I finally got to the office, the thick crescent moon was shining in the south. That's why I haven't seen Venus - it's in Sagittarius, which is behind the tree. The high temperature was 66º. There was a strong wind that started out from the southwest, went calm, picked up from the north and now has been calm for three hours. I don't know what that forebodes.

After a while, Grayson started shouting at me. Usually he sort of whines, but today he was shouting. I guess it was because he's eaten all his canned food and all his favorite kibble, So he got something he likes out of a can and he will just have to eat the other stuff. I put all the stuff that had fallen out of the bowls into another bowl, and he can eat that, too. I think the kibble gets stale rather quickly, though, and that's one reason he doesn't like it so well. Well, too bad.

So that was my day and now I can try to get my sleep schedule straightened around again. It's a mostly clear, warmish night in the field.

October 10

Another late night and nothing day.

Debbie called, but we only talked for an hour. She wanted to know if i was surprised when Mike called, which of course, I was.

The weather was moist and mostly cloudy again. The high temperature was 69º and there was a strong south to southwest wind, with gusts up to 30 mph. It rained between 7 and 8 am, and it was cloudy and humid all day. It's hot in here because it wasn't warm enough to open a window with the wind.

Grayson got booted off my lap because he kept rolling over onto the space bar and scrolling my emails down to the bottom. I think he was happy, because even though it was late, he got some of his favorite flavor today.

And that's all there is. I'm still reading, but maybe not so late tonight? I should probably go up to the north end and do it there. It's a sort of warmish, cloudy, humid night in the field.

October 9

I was too tired to move last night so after I cleaned up from my second nasty accident, I almost inverted. I got up late and sat some more, so I didn't do anything.

The weather was nice. It was partly to mostly cloudy and there was some southwest wind, but the temperature got up to 73º. I opened a couple of windows.

Grayson finally used his clean litter tray and he peed in it. i wish he wouldn't do that, because it's impossible to get the wet clay out of it. Well, I'll do the best I can. Otherwise, he was quite patient with me, although he was very excited to get his canned food.

So now as soon as the Beethoven ends, I will totter up to the north end and I might even take a bath tonight. Maybe. I might also just go to bed. We'll see.

It's a warmish (for October) cloudy night in the field and there may be thunder before morning.

October 8

Well, I was so tired i just didn't want to move, so I was very late getting to bed and fairly late getting up, but it didn't matter much. I didn't do anything before I got my breakfast.

The guys got here around 2 PM and they worked. Most of the bags are in the garage and they even got all of the bags of kitty litter out of the basement! The pans are still full and there is still apparently a whole lot of stuff over by the door to the outside, but at least we're that far ahead. They had no problem getting the shelving unit upstairs and outside - I guess it wasn't as big as I remembered, and I know it isn't too heavy, because I used to be able to carry them around by myself. I haven't put anything on it yet, but it's right where I wanted it, outside the door, so I will be able to use it as a outside fridge when it gets cold. They took the nasty cat pan outside and cleaned it up while I cleaned most of the bathtub and put the other tray in it. Grayson hasn't used it yet, but I know he knows he has clean litter now.

And then we spent another couple of hours talking. It's a problem I have with all my friends. I guess if I saw them more often, we wouldn't talk so long, but maybe we would. i know when Mary Ann and I were going down to Laurium to choir, we always had plenty to talk about.

Anyway the guys are leaving tomorrow, but they are hoping to get back over the winter. They want to see the snow, if we have any this year. However, Mike is helping to take care of his mother and of course that comes first. So we'll see. It's so nice to be retired and we all love it. I was surprised, because they are so friendly, but they really enjoyed being quarantined last year, just like I did. It was so nice not to have to worry about making excuses. No wonder I like them so well. We have a whole lot in common.

Anyway, i didn't do anything else. I got the trash all together mostly before they got here, so I now have empty bags in the wastebaskets that I can fill up and almost all the trash and the recyclables are in the garage. I forgot the bag in the bathroom, but it isn't completely filled yet anyway.

The weather was sort of yucky. It was cloudy and very humid - again - and the high temperature was 67º. Before the guys left, it was beginning to get very foggy, It did rain. Between 3 AM and 7 AM we had 0.33". It didn't bother any of us, except for the humidity.

Grayson was a pretty happy cat. The guys both love cats and they paid a lot of attention to him. I filled all his kibble bowls. That was funny. We had the basement door completely open, which means it was up against sthe kibble bowls, and he decided he wanted a few pieces, so he went through the cat hole and ate. It looked so funny. He also wanted some of my dinner - such as it was - but he didn't get any of that.

So now I can go back to things as normal. I won't be early tonight because I'm listening to Sibelius' Second, which is one of my all-time faves, but it doesn't matter tonight. Now it's a coolish, very humid, foggy night in the field.

October 7

I was much later than I wanted to be last night, but I got my hair washed, and then I couldn't sleep because my feet were cold. I finally put on my socks, and I didn't get up until around 11 AM, but I still didn't get enough sleep, so I'm tired now

That didn't give me much time to do a lot besides get dressed, eat a little cheese and crackers and do a bit of my surfing before I was off for Harbor Haus.

We had a lovely dinner and a lovely time. They are such nice guys! The management finally had to ask us to leave, after we'd been there for four hours, but they're going to come tomorrow and help me get the trash out to the garage, so we'll get to talk again. And after all, it's at least six years since we've seen each other.

One of the things that was in my inbox this morning was the email I asked for from the contractor. Unfortunately, I didn't get to reply to him before I left, but tonight I sent him the documents I have about my repair project and I hope we can go on from there. I need to get going on this - finally.

THe weather was nice. The high temperature was 69º and there wasn't any wind. It's still humid, though. It was clear until around 4:30, when a cloudbank started coming in from the south and it was mostly cloudy at sunset, which made for at least one really weird picture.

I don't know what Grayson did with himself, but when I got home, I had a package I wanted to open in the breezeway and when i looked in the door, he was sitting about three feet away, upright, with his feet together and his head tilted down a bit, so he looked like he was looking over the top of his glasses, and he did not look happy. He just came by, said "meow?" got a pet and went off again. Oh, they have their ways...

So that was my nice day and now I AM going to bed. It's a calm, cloudy night in the field.

October 6

Of course I was rather late last night, but I got my nine hours and I didn't do anything much except for the bulletin, which went out late this afternoon.

And a while after that, I got a phone call from an old friend that I worked with. He and his partner are here for a few days. I admit, I was surprised. I know they love it here, but I'd decided they'd never get back. So I will have dinner tomorrow and we will talk each other's ears off. He thinks it's been about five years, but I think it's been longer than that. How nice! They are both nice people and I enjoy seeing them.

The weather was nice, but it's still extremely humid. The high temperature was 69º and there wasn't much wind. The dew point has been nearly steady in the upper 50s, so it's yucky around here. There were a few clouds this morning, but it was clear at sunset.

Grayson didn't do anything unusual.

So now I have to totter up to the north end soon and wash my hair so I look as good as possible for the guys. It's a clear, coolish night in the field.

October 5

Today is my father's 109th birth anniversary. I wish I had been able to get to know him better.

I was stupidly late last night - or this morning - although I didn't quite invert. I had my second accident of the day while I was on my way to the north end and I did have to stay in the bathroom for quite a while before things settled down, but then I was too tired to get up.

I think I probably got almost my 9 hours, but I've been tired and headachy all day and then I had another one about the time I went into the kitchen to start dinner. Sigh. So I am going to assiduously eat my rice for the next few days, and I think I may avoid the salads, too. I love lettuce salads, but they work exactly against what the rice and beans and potatoes are trying to do. I need to get things back under control. I hate having to pay so much attention to my gut.

The weather wasn't bad. it was clear and blue all day, although there was a big cloud mass southwest of us that began to encroach on the south for a while. It was clear at sunset, though. Venus is someplace over in the west, but I haven't managed to see it yet. The high temperature was 66º and there was no wind. It is still extremey humid, though, and there may be some more fog overnight. My knees ere a bit better today, though.

Grayson sat on me for a while and got petted and he wanted my fish for dinner, but there wasn't enough for him. He has the cutest begging face, but I know what he's doing.

The bulletin information came through a bit earlier than sometimes, but I'm not going to try to do it tonight. I'm going to bed. I did my solitaire challenges this morning, and I'm wearing my nightie, so all I have to do is take off my (dirty) socks and I can crash.

It's a clear, cool night in the field.

October 4

I went up to the north end early - around 10 PM - but I read for a couple of hours before I gave it up and went to bed. I was up for a bit around 8 AM, because something occurred to me that I wanted to look up, but then I went back to bed and didn't get up until 11 AM. So much for early to bed...

I knitted and played games, so I was late eating and very late finishing my surfing, and then I started embroidering. I really did lose track of time, but I finished a rose and most of the leaves around it. But because I wanted to do that, I ended up having an icky accident. It was too late to get dressed again, so I'm sitting here in my nightie and robe. All I have to do is take off my socks and brush my teeth and I can go to bed. That's a good thing, because I'm going to be late tonight.

The fog had just about gone away by 4 AM - it's the first time in a couple of days I could see lighthouse light. I guess it''s going to be foggy again tonight. At least my joints think so. The high temperature today was 62º. The wind has settled down from the north, but it's under 10 mph. The clouds didn't go away until around 5:30 PM - much later than the forecasts - but it was clear at sunset. It's still very humid.

Grayson was his usual self. He seems to be over his diarrhea and he's eating well, except that he would rather have canned food all the time. Too bad about that. He isn't drinking or peeing quite as much as he had been and I don't know what that means.

So it was another quiet day. I finally paid most of my monthly bills tonight. It was so nice to see that hefty balance in the checking account, but that's why it's there, isn't it?

Now it's a cool, clear (I think) night in the field and once the Beethoven is over, I can go to bed.

October 3

I went up to the north end fairly early last night, but then I started reading and I fooled around with the headphones, because there was a Dvorak symphony I don't believe I've ever heard before. The headphones worked fine when I finally figured out which way to put them on and how to turn up the sound. But the foam around the edges of the earpieces is long gone and for some reason the left one hit my ear in a bad place and it hurt. I listened anyway.

I also read for a long time and fooled around some. I discovered that when both computers have pretty much the same stuff on them, it can be difficult to tell which computer I'm talking to. I will have to bear that in mind. There seems to be a bit of a lag when I'm typing, and when i replied to an email I got, it meant I did a lot of backspacing and retyping. I don't know why, but every so often the connection seems to go away for a moment and at least once, I had to initiate it all over again. When I realize that the signal is going from the laptop, through the router extender to the router, out into the internet, back into the router and to the desktop, then takes the whole reverse path, I guess it makes some sense. It's nice to have the connection, though. When I forget to write this thing, I don't have to totter back to the other end of the house.

I don't think RemotePC works as well as LogMein, but LogMeIn is about 10 times more expensive, too. That still makes me mad. LogMeIn is a mature product - I started using it close to 25 years ago - and only greed can excuse their jacking up the price so much. It was free when I started using it and until five or six years ago it was about a quarter of what they ask for it now. I keep hoping that one day cybertechnology won't be the wild west anymore, but I'll never live to see it.

I didn't do anything except take a bath today.

The weather was part of it. I mentioned last night that the fog moved in before dark and it got worse overnight and never went away. The high temperature today was only around 60º. It actually was 62º overnight and slid down to 59º very slowly before it recovered. There was no wind and the humidity was at or very near 100%. No wonder I hurt. The camera went down last night - sorry, I guess I probably new that and I didn't check - but it didn't matter. There was nothing to see but a wall of gray anyway.

Grayson mostly slept, although he got petted twice. He was getting a bit antsy before I finally took my bath. Speaking of ants, a couple of people have suggested either buying bowls with a moat or just putting a pan with water in it around his dish. That's a good idea, except that I can't do it. I have to drop his bowl onto the floor from around 8" or higher because I can't bend down that far, so there is no way I could get a pan full of water onto the floor. I guess we'll just have to cope until it gets cold and the ants go away. I will put down a new set of ant traps and hope that helps. I'm getting tired of bugs...

So that's all there is. Maybe I can do something tomorrow. Now it's a cool, damp, very foggy night in the field.

October 2

Late again. I went up to the north end at a reasonable hour, but then i read for far too long before I finally went to bed. Sigh.

I didn't do much today, although there is a load of underwear in the washer that needs to be put in the dryer and maybe - just maybe - I will take a bath tonight. It's been really hot in the house and I've been having hot flashes all afternoon, which means I've been sweating a lot. We'll see what happens. I finished the story I was reading and now I'm reading the Voyages episode I like most. And the music is nice.

That's the one thing about the laptop - the speakers are terrible, I mean really terrible, and my headphones are so old that the foam pads have broken down. I need to check whether there is a way to attach my bluetooth headphones to the computer, because the sound from the iFrogz is great. Then I can sit in the bathroom all day if I want to - or I have to.

The weather wasn't very good. The high temperature was 71º and there wasn't any wind, but the lowest the humidity got was 87% and around 6 PM the fog moved in. The humidity is now 100%. Ugh. Needless to say, it was cloudy all day, although it wasn't particularly dark and there wasn't any rain.

Grayson is still confused by how I've started feeding him. I put down half of his food and once he eats that, I put down the other half. That usually means half at breakfast (which may be in the middle of the afternoon) and half at dinner. He was very clingy today and he spent quite a while on my lap. Ever since I've had him,he's had a few white hairs in the middle of his forehead, a little below his ears, Lately, the spot has gotten bigger, almost like he's turning gray. I got a couple of pictures of that tonight. One of these days, I'll have to move another batch of pictures from the phone to the computer.

So that was my day. I have to get the wash into the dryer and it would be nice to go to bed clean, but we'll see how that works. Now it's a coolish, extremely humid, foggy night in the field.

October 1

So I was late again. I think it was the games, but I don't quite remember. Maybe tonight I can do better, but I want to get up to the north end and read for a while, so we'll see. I knitted, but I didn't do much of anything else.

The NWS station finally came up at 2 PM . so we missed a lot of data, not that there was much to report. After then, the high temperature was 75º and there wasn't any wind. It started out with some high wispy clouds which got thicker as the day went on. So now stars tonight. Radar seems to think it's raining now, but if so, none of it is hitting the ground, although it's very humid (90%). Most of the rain seems to be northeast of us, over the lake. That may all change, and the weekend is supposed to be unsettled and possibly rainy. we'll see.

Grayson was himself. He hasn't quite figured out the new regime of food yet. I've been putting down half of it and waiting untl he eats that before I give him the rest. That may discourage the ants. We'll see about that, too.

So now it's October and days are getting short. It will get worse before it gets better. Tonight, it's a dark, cloudy night in the field.

Last updated 10/16/21 09:42 PM