journal

A View From the Field

May 22

I was late last night, and I'm probably going to be later tonight. Last night, I just didn't want to go to bed. Tonight, I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. It's always something..

The weather was rather nice. It was cool - the high temperature was 51º. it was cloudy in the morning, but it cleared up by 2 PM and the afternoon was sunny and blue. There wasn't much wind. It still isn't very green, but it's beginning. The MODIS imagery shows green along the north shore of the Keweenaw, but I haven't noticed it much on the ground.

Grayson laid on my lap and purred until I had to move. I think he would have come back, but I was doing something else by that time. I wish I was sure it's just that he's decided he can tell me he likes me.

So it was a rather lost day. I am going to try once more to grocery shop tomorrow. The information for this weeks' bulletins came in, so I will have to try to fit that in either tomorrow or early Tuesday. Schwan's screwed up my order and I have to call about that. Wednesday is my eye exam, I think. May is almost over already. Sigh.

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

May 21

I don't know exactly when I got to bed, but it was probably around 1:30. A couple of hours later, I had to jump out of bed and change my underwear, but after that, I slept well, and I got up a bit after 11 AM. I'm happy to say I only diddled away about two hours, then I took a shower and washed my hair, which was very greasy. If only I could keep ahold of my habits that well all the time!

I ate a big bowl of 10 grain cereal with frozen berries in it. Mostly it was good, but it tasted like something was missing, I don't know what. I wish I could figure out how to cook cereal without it sticking to the pan. If i want more tomorrow, I will have to scrub out the pot. I also wish these people would write reasonable directions - like half a cup of cereal to ? cups of water, and so forth. This one said one cup of cereal to 3 cups of water, which was too much, but half a cup isn't enough, and I don't keep a calculator in the kitchen.

Anyway, that was enough that I wasn't hungry until after 11 PM, so I ate around midnight, which is too late. Sigh.

The weather turned cold overnight, and it was cloudy this morning, but it cleared up around 9:30 and didn't get cloudy again until 7:30 PM or so. The high temperature was 45º. THere was a brisk north wind this morning, with gusts up to 25 mph, but it died down around 3 PM.

Grayson kept coming up under me and mewing, but i only picked him up once and he didn't stay long. I figured that if he really wanted to sit on me, he could get up on the counter. He did eat all his canned food, so the ants didn't get any of it.

so now I have nice clean hair and I really need to go to bed. It's a cool, cloudy night in the field.

May 20

It would be nice if I could get to town someday with time to shop.

I got to bed by 11 PM and I slept very well - until around 10:15 this morning. I still don't feel very good. I couldn't decide whether to try for town today so I fiddled around before I got dressed and then I decided to go, because I was walking pretty well. So I had a fast breakfast and collected my things - and I made it TO the toilet before I had an accident. I was having a hard time getting my belt unbuckled. Well, that was that. By the time I got myself cleaned up, it was too late. Sigh. Maybe Monday? I avoid weekends because that's when the working people shop. besides, by the time I would have left, I wasn't feeling so good.

The weather had cleared up, though. It rained off and on all night, but it stopped around noon and between 4 and 8 PM, we had some sunshine and blue skies. Not it's cloudy again. The high temperature was 65º, which would have been nice to be out in. The humidity has dropped nicely to under 50%, but the barometer is still quite low. The wind started out from the west and is now from the northwest, with gusts up to 28 mph.

Grayson got some lap time, but not as much as he might have wanted.

I made rice, but I just had some channa masala for dinner and I didn't eat all of it. I don't feel good, so I think I will just be done with it and go to bed. Maybe that will help. The music isn't so good tonight.

IT's a warm, breezy night in the field.

May 19

Well, that didn't work. I was late getting to bed, of course, and after the first time I was up, I couldn't go back to sleep. Something I can't identify was gnawing at my mind, but the main reason was that all my joints ached, especially the ones I was trying to lie on, and I couldn't get the temperature right. Since the temperature outside was in the mid 40s, I should probably have closed the windows, but that was too much trouble. Oh, and I had a major bloody nose.

My aches finally went away, but my nose was still bleeding when I got up at 1:30. I think it's stopped now, but I have to be careful not to knock off the scabs. The right side was the worst, but the left side was bleeding, too. It has something to do with the blood thinner, what I've been eating, and the humidity, but very seldom have I had such a bad bleed. I don't think I got any on my pillowcase, except for a tiny dot, but I did get some on the towel when I washed my face.

Anyway, I don't think I got enough sleep and I'm tired again now. Obviously, I didn't go to town. I will try again tomorrow. The rain is supposed to be mostly in the morning and it's supposed to be much warmer. I'm having a bit less problem with my knees, as long as I don't stand for more than a couple of minutes without moving, so maybe I can do it.

Today was a yucky day. The fog didn't go away until around 6 PM, and the temperature was only in the middle 40s. The weather station did finally get back online, but not until 6 PM, so I don't have any archived data. The wind was from the south or southwest, but it wasn't very strong. It was just very moist and chilly.

Grayson really wanted to sit on me and he did, twice. The first time, I had to make him move so I could turn off the radio, but a while later he came back and went to sleep in my arms while getting his tummy rubbed.

So that was an almost useless day and now it's bed time. It's a cool, humid, cloudy night in the field.

May 18

I could possibly have gone to town today, but I didn't. I was in bed by midnight and I didn't get up until 11:30, with only one wakeup (!!), so I got enough sleep, but I have been tired all day and I was late enough that I didn't want to try for it.

Instead I did the bulletin, with only a couple of goofs. Next week will be hard, because Ascension Day is Thursday and Pastor didn't give us the information for it. We have to hope he'll get it to us early, because my yearly eye exam is Wednesday afternoon, and not only will I be gone most of the afternoon, I won't be seeing too well when i get home. And I will have to go to bed early Tuesday night.

I am going to make a valiant effort to get to town tomorrow, because there really are some things i need that I can't get from Gaslite. There is some rain around, so we'll see how it goes. I should really wash my hair tonight, but I doubt that will happen, since it's already after midnight.

The weather was rather yucky, and I don't have many statistics because the weather station went down at 8 AM. I think the high temperature was around 50º and there was a light wind mostly from the south. It was cloudy and dull and sometime late in the afternoon, it started to dribble rain. Why my knees aren't too bad today, I do not know, but I'll take it. They still hurt when I move after standing still, but I can walk. Strange.

Grayson kept coming around and mewing at me, but I was busy for quite a while. Eventually, I picked him up and that was what he wanted. He got another nice tummy rub and I think he dozed off for a while. He wanted my dinner, too, but he didn't get any of that.

Schwan's had a coupon for today only, so I put in the order I've been thinking about for a while, except that as usual, four or five items I normally buy are out of stock. I know there are supply chain problems, but I don't think they are trying hard enough. I mean, if you know people buy a lot of chicken, when you can get it, why don't you get two or three times your usual amount? It's frozen, after all, and chicken keeps well when frozen at industrial temperatures. About the fish, I don't know. In one case, I think they are forcing us to buy the new, very expensive kind, rather than the old cheaper one. I did, because I'm curious about it, and so much else was out of stock that it didn't impact the amount of my order very much. In fact, now I realize i should have bought a couple of things I deleted, but oh, well. There is no law that says i can only order once a month, although I have to order over $100 to get free shipping. I'm sorry they're so convenient, because they drive me crazy. This time, I won't get it until next Thursday (the 26th), which also drives me nuts.

So that was my day and I need to go to bed. It's a cool, cloudy, rainy night in the field,

May 17

So I ended up inverting again. It was another case of not wanting to stand up. So I didn't get nearly enough sleep and I'm going to try to go to bed much earlier tonight, although if they keep playing the interesting music, it's going to be hard.

The weather was nice but cool again. It was partly cloudy, with lots of sunshine, and the high temperature was 50º. There was only a very light breeze from the north. The camera hung up early this morning, so we didn't get all the pictures.

Grayson is getting tired of eating so late and he explained it to me. He decided it wasn't worth waiting to see if I'd give him my dinner, but he came back after I finished and got a nice tummy rub. I don't know why it's taken him so long after Louie died, but he's purring nice and loudly these days. Just about the time I woke up, he jumped on the window seat and looked out all the windows. He hasn't been jumping very high for quite a while. I think he picked high spots when Louie was here because if he didn't Louie went after him - never when I was around to see it, of course. Now he can sleep anyplace on the floor he wants to, and he seems to prefer that.

So that's all I know and when the Hovhaness finishes, I'm going to bed. It's a cool, partly cloudy (I think) night in the field.

May 16

Ew, I am so late! it's mostly because I wanted to eat something and I couldn't think of anything I wanted to eat. Besides, I've been having so much trouble with my knees that I didn't want to try to get up and when I finally did, I had a nasty accident that never should have happened. My knees are better than they've been for several days, but I can only find that out by standing on them and I was afraid to try. I have that problem a lot, although this is the first accident I've had. I can report that the heavy-duty anti-diarrheal I've been taking ijewelrysn't doing much of anything. I've upped the dose from 4 to 6 (out of a maximum of 8) and we'll see how that works, but I'm not hopeful.

I wasn't too late last night because about the time i got to the bathroom the wifi went down. Actually, I think it was PastyNet, but it didn't matter. I couldn't get out unless I used cellular data, which I try never to to. So I went to bed. I think I got almost 10 hours' sleep, which was fine, until tonight happened...

In retrospect, I think the reason the moon disappeared during the eclipse is probably that there were some high, thin clouds. The pctures I've seen from other locations weren't that dark. I'm sorry I wasn't in the office to see the end, when the sun peeked around the edge of the earth's shadow, but it was a very long eclipse and i was tired.

Not like I'm tired now, but tired.

The weather today was considerably cooler than over the weekend. The high temperature was only 54º with a brisk north wind gusting up to 28 mph, It was cloudy until around 2:30, when it cleared up for abpit 4 hours before some more clouds moved in and it was cloudy at sunset. However, it must have cleared up after it got dark, because the moon has been shining brightly in the windows.

Grayson actually insisted upon sitting on my lap this afternoon and he wanted a tummy rub as well as other rubs. He isn't nasty about it - he just insists. That's fine. Sometimes when i have to pick him up, I'm not sure he really wants to sit on me. he has circumvented the ants for the past couple of days by eating all his food before they find it. That works, too, at least for the kinds he likes.

Wow, there was something else I wanted to say, but it wafted through my brain and disappeared.

Now it's a clear, cool night in the field and I need to go to bed.

May 15

Well, I'm not going to stay up to see the whole eclipse, because I'm too tired.

I wasn't too late to be last night, I don't think, and I think I got around 9 hours' sleep, but I nearly fell asleep at the computer this evening. The task of the day was bath, and that got done. I sweat so much that I was all sticky and my hair was greasy. IT's better now.

Oh - the eclipse. For a while I was worried that it had clouded up, but that was because the moon rose later than I thought it would and right behind my neighbor's trees. It came out when only about 10% was still lit by the sun and I followed it to totality, although there seems to be something wrong with my one pair of binoculars - probably my eyes. IT's been a long time since I've used them.

Anyway, I've seen a lot of lunar eclipses since I got interested in astronomy - probably about 70 years ago - and this is one of the darkest one I can remember. They used to talk about "ashen" eclipses and I always wondered what they looked like. Even though it's not near the middle of the eclipse yet, as soon as the sun disappeared, the central part of the moon turned dark gray and it's very hard to find in the sky. I always like to use some form of magnification on an eclipse, because it has to be magnified to see the colors well, and besides, it's one of the very few times when the moon looks like a sphere, which is a neat effect.

There wee a few clouds around sunset, but for most of the day and night so far, it was my idea of a perfect day. The high temperature was 68º, but that was after the wind dripped. For most of the afternoon, it was in the lower middle 60s and there was a nice, brisk north wind with gusts up to 37 mph. The dewpoint was in the middle 30s, which meant the humidity was around or below 40%. I could take a lot of this. I only wonder why my knees are so so sore. I had to take some Tylenol.

Grayson sat on me twice, although I had to pick him up. He seemed happy to be there and he was purring a lot. We ate kind of late, which he didn't like, particularly since the ants got his canned food overnight. I may have to try something like putting the dish in a pan of water. I know it will solve the ant problem, but I'm not sure what Grayson will think of it.

Anyway, that was my day and I will check on the moon a couple more times before I go to bed. I's a really neat eclipse and it's a coolish, clear night in the field.

May 14

I was so late doing anything that I ended up inverting. I got my 9 hours, but that put me late enough that I didn't do anything. I'm going to try not to be nearly as late tonight. My knees are still very sore. but since it's not very humid, the only cause I can see is the barometer, which is rather low.

The weather was amazing. It was mostly clear and there was no wind - literally. The wind was calm until after 1 PM, and then it was almost calm. The high temperature jumped from 59º to 77º between 2 and 3 PM. The actual high was 78º. It's cooled down to 61º now, but there is still almost no wind.

I was so hot that I finally opened some windows. I will probably close the one in the bathroom when I go back there because if there is a breeze it blows right on me and when it cools down, it gives me stiff muscles in my neck and shoulders. The ones in the bedroom and the office, which aren't open very far, will stay. I hate to try to heat the great out of doors, but I can't stand the heat. It must have been 90º in the bedroom. Every time I woke up to pee, I was soaking wet. I guess I'm going to have to call the hVAC people next week.

I am finding DST disorienting this year. The sun was still shining brightly after 8 PM tonight and that's just not right. It set at 9:21 PM. And it's beginning to get light at 5 AM. The light is nice, but after all the dark we have, it just doesn't feel normal.

I don't think Grayson likes the heat either. He has been lying on the bare tile in the bathroom, which is a little cooler than the wood floors. He was very patient with me even though I was so late.

So it wasn't much of a day and now it's a partly cloudy, warm night in the field.

May 13

At least I got enough sleep, but I'll be late tomorrow, too.

Tonight it was the Census. Somehow I got on the "American Community Survey' list and I was curious to see what they wanted to know. Well, everything. I think it took me almost 2 hours to complete and I had to check my ledger and guess at a few things. They also wanted to know a lot of stuff about the house and what it costs to live here. i guess the information they collect is useful to them, but I wish they'd butt out of my business. As usual with those things, the questions were yes/no and there were places where my answer was "maybe" or "somewhat." The one that has been annoying me a whole lot lately is, do I have trouble bathing or dressing, yes or no. Well - maybe, sometimes, depending upon the temperature, the barometer, the humidity and probably the phases of the moon...

Speaking about the moon, it appears that if the weather cooperates I will be able to see the eclipse out the south windows. Sky & Telescope has a neat interactive star chart, and while it doesn't quite line up with the compass on the phone, it's close enough.

Oh, and it just thundered again.

I got to the Gaslite and the Post Office and I have JD and lettuce and mail, most of which was of no interest at all. It was nice to have a JD and a salad for dinner. The lady at Gaslite asked me not to come on Friday again, so I'll try not to do that. Weekends are busy at this time of year but the rest of the week isn't.

The weather was warm and humid. They reported the high temperature as 79º, but I doubt that. It did get warm in mid-afternoon. Then around 5 PM the thunder moved in and it's been in and out ever since. There is a line of storms from here all the way down to Arkansas and another wave is coming through now. There's been a lot of noise out over the lake and on the other side of the peninsula, but there hasn't been much rain. And when I was checking the location of the moon, a bit after 10 PM, I think, it was clear, at least where the moon was. Now there is this big blob of green and yellow coming our way.

Everybody is talking about the power glitch yesterday morning and nobody can remember any such thing happening before. Ron says somebody was out here today (I think) peering a the tops of the poles with binoculars, but I don't think it was a Norland thing - I think it was more general in the whole area. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

Grayson mostly slept.

So that was my day. My knees were really bad today, and in fact, my left knee collapsed as I was trying to get into the car and I was left hanging onto the steering wheel with both hands until I could recover enough to get in. One reason I'm so late is that I didn't eat dinner until after midnight, and by then my knees seemed to be a bit better, so I still don't understand exactly what causes them to be bad sometimes and not other times. All I know is that they've been hurting pretty bad lately.

Now it's a warm, dark, thundery night in the field.

May 12

Somebody doesn't want me to go food shopping and it's not all me.

We had a pretty hefty thunderstorm around 7 AM today and when I woke up, around 7:15, besides the lightning and thunder, the power was bouncing about every 30 seconds. The clocks kept resetting, the iPhone kept beeping as the power came back on to the charger and there were klunks coming from the kitchen as the fridge kept trying to start.

This was not good, There wasn't anything I could do about it because I also discovered that the keypad on my corded phone in the bedroom doesn't work anymore and I wasn't going all the way to the other end of the house. So I went back to sleep.

When I finally got up, things had settled down and the power was back on, although at the time, I didn't know if it was line power or generator. My wifi was down, but that didn't surprise me, since it frequently happens in power failures.

What I did not know until I sat down in the office was that all the gear on my UPS was down and the UPS was whistling. I managed to stop the whistle by turning it off and after some thought, I unplugged the power brick and plugged it into another outlet that I could reach. Thee was a reason why, when we set up this thing, I plugged all the gear into the power brick - about nine plugs. That finally got me back up and running.

I did screw up the first boot, though, and at least part of the OS lost its mind and partially reverted to last Sunday. That meant Word had forgotten all the files I'd had open this week and - worst of all - the OS decided it should do a complete backup of my hard drive! I do not know where that came from. On the one hand, I had filled a DVD last Sunday and it had been a long time since I'd done a complete backup, but if I'd had any choice in the matter, I would not have started one at 1:30 PM when I was recovering from power problems. I have no clue why that happened, which means it could happen again.

Anyway, I do get a cell signal, so I texted PastyNet and a while later Mike came with a new UPS. Of course, he couldn't plug my gear into it because it would have brought down the system and neither of us was sure what might have happened if there had been a power failure in the middle of a backup. I didn't have enough blanc DVDs to waste the two I had already written. Anyway, he also found that apparently the problem with the old UPS was that the battery had run down, so if I had known enough to turn it back on, I would probably have been OK. Sigh. Every time I have one of these things, I learn something. After the backup finally completed, I did move the plug back to the UPS and everything seems fine now, although I've forgotten to check the router extender, which was acting funny when Mike came.

By the time he left, it was much too late to go to town and besides, I was in the middle of a multi-DVD backup. It was probably just as well, The weather has done a number on my knees and I have been having trouble moving. I will try again tomorrow and If I can't get out of here by 2 PM, I will just pick up some things at the Gaslite and try again next week. That sounds like a good idea anyway.

The weather was the kind that does a number on my joints. Between 4 and 6 AM we had 0.43" of rain, and that was all. however, the humidity was over 85% all day and there was a lot of fog. The high temperature during the day was 57º. The wind was mostly around 15 mph, except during the storm, but it kept switching from north to south and back. Actually, when I see readings like that, I wonder if they're accurate, but around here one never knows.

Grayson didn't like all that noise from the storm or, I think the klunks and whistles. He was much more relaxed when it quieted down.

So that was the excitement of teh day and now it's a cool, moist night in the field.

May 11

I just woke up from a short nap at the computer...

I didn't go to town. I was all ready to do it, and I felt better than yesterday, when Mary Ann called with an addition to the prayer list and we had a nice, half-hour conversation. That put me after noon, but I pressed on. I was moving slowly. I did my thing - more than I should have - and I was sitting in the powder room with my jacket on when I looked at the time, and it was just before 3 PM. Well, clearly that was too late to do anything. So instead, I did the bulletin and listened to the talking.

Maybe I can go tomorrow. The NWS and the Weather Underground say it's going to rain tomorrow, but Environment Canada says it's going to be clear and warm, so We'll see.

The weather today depended on where you were. It was very foggy around here until at least 4:S0. I heard the foghorns for the first time today - there were a couple of lakers right off the harbor, and it was evidently even foggier out there than it was here. The temperature varied from 40º to 55º,, depending on the fog. At the airport, it got up to 67º and they had a thunderstorm that we missed. There was no wind here and the fog came and went. This is typical for this time of year.

Grayson was happy that I stayed home. He didn't get to sit on me because I was busy, but he was somewhere around my feet for most of the afternoon.

Now I'm so tired I'm not sure I can get up to the north end, so I may have to take another nap. The nice music was making me have a nice dream that I can't remember.

It's a cloudy, possibly foggy night in the field.

May 10

Well, that didn't work. I was a bit later than I wanted to be getting to bed, but I slept well and I got up around 10 AM. i didn't fool around much, although I had to find some jeans and a top to wear, which meant a couple of trips to the closet.

I was concerned when I started moving around, and when I started down the hall to the kitchen, I realized I wasn't going anywhere today. I could hardly move. I had to sit down a couple of times, but I finally made it to the office, but that's as far as I got. Fortunately, the new meds seem to be at least calming my gut down enough that it doesn't explode on me, so I managed to make it to the powder room every time.

I finally got my load of bottoms - it was huge - dried, so now maybe I can go on to some other things that need washing. The trouble is, both the Clorox 2 and the Oxiclean are out in the breezeway.

Also, fortunately, the weather tomorrow is supposed to be good and I really have to shop, whether or not I can move. I am almost completely out of produce - I have a cabbage and a couple of potatoes, and that's it. Oh, and no JD. We'll see how it goes.

The weather today was sort of weird. There was no wind, but the temperature kept bouncing up and down. It was 70º when I got up, and the two hours later it was 51º. It recovered some, and 73º was the high, but it kept bouncing around from the middle 60s to around 50º. It wasn't the wind, because there wasn't any, so I don't now what the problem was. My problem seems to be that the barometer was low and the humidity was high, but I'm not sure about that. All I know is that I couldn't move. It was mostly cloudy all day, but it cleared up right before it got dark and it was clear and lovely in the last picture.

Grayson kept coming up beside me and mewing until I finally lifted him onto my lap and he was so happy. He got a tummy rub and he also got a head rub, which is his favorite. He lay on his back on my lap for a long time before he finally got up and went away. I don't know why he doesn't usually get on my lap from the counter. When I lift him, it's with my hands around his chest under his front legs, and that can't be comfortable.

So that was my day and now I have to try to make it to the bathroom and then into bed, if I can walk.

It's a cool (sometimes) clear (sometimes) night in the field.

May 9

I don't remember everything I did last night. It started because I wanted to finish reading as much as I've written of Voyages 5, because I thought I was pretty close to the end. Not as close as I thought, but I did finish it. Then I went up to the north end and I don't remember what I was doing - probably playing Solitaire - but I ended up inverting, so it was mid-afternoon before I got up.

I did have to take a bath, because among other things, I sweat badly on Saturday and my hair was getting greasy. It took me a long time to get myself moving at that. In the meantime, I called the clinic to ask my questions, and then I wanted to wait until they called me back so they didn't get me in the shower. I did that and I just got confirmation that my pills are coming. The other question I had was about my next visit, and they seemed all right with waiting until late August, when my Wellness exam is due. So that turned out all right.

I finally did get my bath, and in fact, there was a phone call while I was in the shower that I never even heard. It was a survey from Aspirus, so I will just wait until they call me again, if they do. By the time I was clean and dry and all that, it was quite late, so I got our dinner and now it's late again. I will try not to invert again.

The weather is wild for May. They've canceled the wind warning, but it was extremely windy all afternoon, with a south wind gusting up to 54 mph. And it was warm. The high temperature was 69º, which I don't remember having this early in the season. So we've gone from late winter to early summer in about a week. It was cloudy but not too dark.

My trouble with the heat is that I can't get the temperature in my bedroom down below 85º. I don't know if the zone valve failed when it was open or there's something fishy about the zones in the bedroom and bathroom or something else is going on. I've turned down the heat in the bathroom to see if that helps. I like having the bathroom nice and warm, but I would prefer it cooler in the bedroom. We'll see. I was going to call the HVAc people anyway because they do maintenance on septic systems, which I'm due for, and now I may have to have them look at the heating system, too. Sigh. if it's not one damn thing, it's another.

Grayson was not quite as patient with me today. I think he's tired of getting his canned food in the evening. He did do a better job of eating it all up last night, so the ants didn't get it. I think he wants to sit on me, too, although it's getting a bit warm for that.

I really want to go to town tomorrow and shop - I'm out of lettuce and I need some other things - but we'll see how the night goes. I will need gas, too, and I'm not looking forward to that.

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

May 8 - Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and your kids. It's always a quiet, sad day for me. I miss her still, even though it's been almost 30 years.

I was in bed at 11 PM last night and I didn't get up until after 11 AM this morning, so I feel some better than I did yesterday and I can walk again. I have a terrible time walking when I'm tired or sick.

Otherwise, I did nothing.

The weather was sort of blah. Warm blah, but blah. There was a bit of sunshine early this morning, but the clouds soon moved in and it got quite dark for a while. There was no rain, but it did look threatening. The high temperature was 57º and there was a moderate wind from the south. I miss the sunshine, even though the house didn't get as warm today.

Grayson was patient with me until I started moving around, and then he told me dinner was late. Unfortunately, there were ants in yesterday's bowl. I hope he gets more of it today, because it's one of his favorites, and I will have to get some more ant baits.

So nothing happened today, and I'm going to try to be fairly early to bed tonight. It won't be 11, but maybe 12.

It's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.

May 7

Oof. I was rather late last night, because I was too tired to move. I slept well, but when I got up, first I thought it was 1:15 PM and it was actually 11:15 AM - for some reason I couldn't see that first "1." It's hard to see that clock at all when the light outside is bright. Then I realized that I felt just absolutely lousy - headachy, with sore joints, very flu-ish. So I just sat in the bathroom until my bottom hurt and Grayson was complaining. When I did get up, I could hardly walk, and I ended up having to sit down two or three times while I made my dinner. Wow.

After considering the problem, I guess I am having a reaction to the shingles shot. I was beginning to feel bad before I left the clinic and it just got worse overnight. So the plan tonight is to go to bed really early and hope I feel better tomorrow. I don't remember that the first shot caused a reaction, but sometimes that happens.

The weather was rather amazing. The temperature was 60º, plus or minus a degree, all afternoon. A breeze from the south picked up in the afternoon. It was clear and blue, but we need that green. The sun was so strong that it's 79º in here, and i think it's just as warm at the north end.

Grayson was relatively patient with me, although before i finally got to the kitchen, he was asking for his dinner.

And that's all there is. I haven't stood up lately, but my head feels a bit better, so maybe this was just a passing thing. It's a clear, warm night in the field, and I'm going to bed.

May 6

So it was another wild day. I didn't start my bath until around 11:30 PM, and I had enough to do afterwards - including cutting my fingernails - that it was 1:30 before I finally got to bed. i had hoped to get up around 10 AM, but I didin't sent an alarm, so I didn't get up until 11:15. EEK!!

Everything went well and I made good time. Then, right before I wanted to leave, I went toward the powder room for a last pit stop and right in front of the toilet, I had a horrible accident - including on the floor. So I had to change all my bottoms. Thankfully, it didn't get my hose or my socks, but it took a few minutes to find the jeans, get the belt in place, move the stuff to the new pockets and get them on. The pair I chose are closer to fitting right, and I had a terrible time getting the waistband buttoned. Then I had a terrible time getting into my jacket and...

I decided when I left that I wasn't going to worry about when I'd get to the hospital, so I didn't even look at the time. My friend Fay saw me park and came out with the wheel chair, which helped a lot, too. I made it up to the doctor's office in time, but it was close. Of course, since I was late, he was more or less on time...

We talked too long, as usual, and when I got home, I realized we hadn't talked about a couple of important things, so I will have to either try the online app or call them on Monday.

I did finally get my second shingles shot, but while I was waiting, I realized that I was so tired I just did not want to go to Pat's. I forgot that I needed JD. I think the gas will hold until the next time I go down, which I think will have to be Tuesday. There are a few things I need besides JD.

I got home around 5;30, and I just sat. My knees, which had been pretty good in the morning, were very sore by the time I got home. So I sat and the same thing that happened in the morning happened when I went out to the kitchen to get my dinner. Walter did give me a prescription for a drug that works like Imodium but is stronger, and I will try that. I am getting so tired of this...

The weather was wonderful. it was clear and sunny. The high temperature here was 59º and i think it was even higher in Laurium. There was almost no wind. It was so nice. And it's supposed to stay warm for the next few days, although it will probably be cloudy on Sunday. It's so nice, and everybody was so happy. It's been a long winter. There is still a lot of snow in the woods, but the longer it stays this warm, the faster it will go away. Spring will come!

Grayson was not happy that I left and he was telling me all about it when i got home. He wanted my dinner, but he got his own fish. It's been several weeks since he had any and my suspicion proved true - he was just tired of it. He ate it all up. The same thing is happening with the kibble. He has gotten tired of the one he was eating almost exclusively for several months and lately, he's been eating the one he liked when he first came to me. I know how he feels. I get tired of eating the same thing all the time, too.

So that was my day, and it's late now. IT's a clear, dark night in the field.

May 5

What a wild couple of days this has been!

After I wrote last night, I got a weird message from Norton saying that I was running low on memory On the computer (i did that a long time ago in my mind...). They wanted me to let them do something about it, but I'm sure it would cost me. In general, the way to fix that kind of problem is to reboot, and it's been a while since they forced me to do that, so I closed almost everything and did it.

It took me two times to get Norton to come up, which also frequently happens. Rebooting takes forever, because Microsoft naively assumes you never need to do that. i finally got everything back up, I thought.

Then I took a look at the story I had been reading in Word...and even though I closed it properly before I rebooted, it had managed to lose all the things I had told it to ignore because the grammar checker is so terrible. So my story, which is 90.000 words long, had "errors" every couple of sentences. It was arou8nd 1 AM or later by the time I got the system back up, but for some reason, I decided to fix the file instead of leaving it for today. I guess when I started I didn't realize just how bad it was. Anyway, it took me well over an hour to get it beaten into shape. There actually were a couple of things that were wrong, but most of it was the same garbage I've been dealing with ever since I've had this version of Word. It wants me to write "So am me," to name just one stupid thing.

Then when I got up to the north end, I ran the games, and you know where that leads...

I didn't get up until 2 PM, and then I discovered that the camera had hung up early this morning, which is something that frequently happens when I reboot. I don't know why, but it's happened forever, it's just that the symptoms are different with this version of the app.

I decided to fix the problem before I took my bath, and on my way trough the kitchen, I fed the cat and got some tea, toast and cheese. Of course, when I got here, besides restarting the camera, I did my surfing, which takes about an hour, I think.

Then I went back up to the bathroom, having an accident on the way, and then I sat. I didn't take my bath until 11 PM. At least I got it done. I came back to the south end, via the kitchen, with something to eat - not what I had planned - and ate and read the emails that had come in after I left. Everything is all mixed up.

At least I can go jump right into bed, after I brush my teeth, but still, it's late, and I need to get to the hospital before 1:30 tomorrow. How do I get into these things?

The weather was nice again. It was clear and sunny. The high temperature was 49º and the wind was mostly from the east, but very light. it is so nice to see the sun and the blue skies!

Grayson wasn't getting anxious before I fed him, but things were different enough that after I went back to the bathroom, he came and started complaining. I guess he's OK now, but he doesn't like it when I deviate from the routine. It's a cat thing.

So that's it. It's been crazy and I'm exhausted. It's a clear, dark night in the field.

May 4

Well, that didn't work. I was late going up to the north end and I sat for a very long time, so I was stupidly late getting to bed and I only got about 7 hours' sleep again. It's late now - again - and I'm tired - again. Sigh.

I didn't do anything.

The weather was nice again. It was mostly clear and blue. The high temperature was 51º and there was almost no wind. The last few pictures from the camera have me curious, though. They look like there was some fog or something over the harbor, but the humidity was reported at around 50%, so there shouldn't have been anything like that. My knees thought the humidity was higher, too.

Grayson was his usual self. I've noticed him purring loudly a lot lately. Since I didn't pick him up when he asked, he finally got up on the counter and sat down on my lap. He would have stayed longer, but I got a spam phone call and I had to move.

In fact, I got four spam calls today, plus one that wasn't. It's been a couple of days since the phone has rung at all, so today it was ringing all the time, mostly when I couldn't check to see whether I should answer it.

The last time I saw my health care provider, I was able to pre-register online. Well, this time apparently they've changed their mind again and I can't do that. It annoys me several ways. It was very convenient to sit here and answer all the dumb Medicare questions. And besides, I wish they would stop changing their minds, if any. I like things to be consistent. Sigh.

When I went to get my dinner, the sliver of moon was shining in the upstairs windows, so pretty and so far north. No wonder I couldn't see it last night - it's up in the north-northwest. So I missed Mercury again. One of these days, I'll see it again.

Now it's a clear, cold night in the field and I must go to bed.

May 3

Just the other day, I read something that said that "scientists" (whoever they are) have found that the optimum length of sleep for middle-aged and older people is 7 hours. I beg to differ on several counts. It seems to me it's another one of those things like the dieticians who say (essentially) "You shouldn't eat X (whatever X is) because I don't like it." So...I shouldn't need more than 7 hours of sleep because you don't. What garbage. The trouble with this Google app on my phone is that they just throw this stuff out there with no editing at all, and I've found a whole lot of the so-called "scientific" stuff is just plain garbage, and there's no way to tell what's good and what isn't. So much of it isn't.

I need at least 9 hours and I didn't get it last night.

The stuff for the bulletin came in and Sue emailed me to say she was going to print early Thursday morning, so as soon as the talking was over, I got right at it. I made one error and then Pastor had an addition, but I got all that out by 10 PM. Then I just sat - I was reading - so it's ridiculously late now and I'm not quite finished with my dinner. Sigh.

The weather was nice, if cool. It was sunny and blue. Now all we need is the green... The high temperature was 42º and there was a north wind in the 10-12 mph range. Nice.

Grayson was his usual self.

Now it's a cool, clear night in the field and it would be nice if I could get to bed tonight...er, this morning.

May 2

I feel much better today. I got almost 11 hours' sleep, which has helped. And no night sweats.

The only task of the day was to get the pill dispensers in the office filled, and I did that. After having to open all those bottles last night, i didn't want to have to do it again.

The weather was nondescript. it was cloudy and dull. The high temperature was 45º and for most of the day there was a brisk north wind with gusts up to 25 mph. Lately the wind has died down and there was a little bit of rain. Oh, no wonder my knees started to hurt.

Grayson was happy because my schedule was more normal today and he got something to eat that he hasn't had in a while. I guess I'll have to get a case of that.

So except to pay a bunch of bills, i didn't do much. Now I have a decision to make. It's already later than I'd like, but I have to finish hearing the Schubert, but between 12 and 1 AM they are going to play Brahms' First. I really didn't want to stay up that late, but...

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

May 1

Have nothing much to say today.

I had a horrible night - night sweats about every hour and a half - and I feel lousy today. My symptoms are more flu-like than covid-like, although I will try to take the tests up to the north end and try to figure out how to use one.

I did finally get my bath and that helped, but we'll see how things go tonight. I got the pill dispensers at the north end filled, but not the ones in the office, because it was too dark when I got here. This is the inconvenient time of year - I can't stop the camera until almost 10 PM, so i have to make do with the little reading lignt and I can't see much. I took all the pills at once and something seems to have stuck about a third of the way down my esophagus, which is uncomfortable. I will have to take a big drink when I get up.

My back was hurting so much I had to sit down several times while I was making my dinner, which disconcerted the cat. It finally felt a bit better by the time I got to the office.

The weather was yucky. it only rained between 4 AM and 11 AM, but it was dull and gray and there was a south wind that gusted up to 30 mph. the high temperature was 45º.

Grayson was patient with me, but when I started rolling around the kitchen to pick up his bowl and get some new cans, he was a bit puzzled. Mommy doesn't usually do that. I am pleased to say there were no ants today. I was a bit suspicious of those ant baits, but they seem to be working fine. At least that problem is solved for the summer, or I hope so. Poor kitty has to eat.

So now I will go and crash again and hope not to be sweating all night. Night sweats mean something is wrong with me, but I'll have to wait to find out what it is.

It's a cool, dark, breezy night in the field. At least it's May.

Last updated 05/23/22 02:35 AM