Sounds Like

Travel.

I don't know how salespeople do it. As the year comes to a close and I look backwards, I see that I have averaged a trip every two weeks since Memorial Day, including scheduled vacations. Now, I like to drive the Jeep. It's probably why, even considering the lack of finances, I keep pouring money into its repair. It's fun to drive. But when the week includes day trips resulting in 10-14 hour days or repeated overnight trips, it's becoming not fun, not fun at all. The huge amount of work that still keeps coming results in travel. You're nobody until you've had your black cat "yell" at you because you're not home for lap sleeps.

And yet, even when I'm supremely tired, I find things that take my breath away. This is Shawano Lake.

I've had to do inspections of homes which sit, as you can see, less than a stone's throw from the water.

There are no basements and one home was a vacation home, but all of them have a gorgeous view across the lake. I was told there's not an issue with flooding, as you would have if you lived next to a river. Sometimes the lake is a "bit over the grass", but it's very rare. I was told there is always a breeze, sometimes a strong wind and the temperature along the lake can be 5-10 degrees cooler than in Shawano, 5 miles to the west. I can see why these people chose to build here. I don't think I would tire of the view.

On the last day I was there, I was doing an exterior inspection and there was this very curious noise. There is a small creek which empties into the lake at this point and a bridge over the creek had been redone over the summer. I walked over to the creek and saw this.

This is ice in the creek. The end, where it meets the lake, is a concrete sided causeway, the better to facilitate flow into the lake and to minimize flooding. People have built homes within 10 feet of this.

The ice made the natural waves of the lake undulate as they reached the shore, rather than rise up as we normally think of waves. So it was akin to the motion of a liquid in a bowl if you just move it gently side-to-side. Yet the sound. That's what was so curious; the sound. I'd never heard anything like it. It took me awhile to liken it to something with which to describe what I was hearing. Fill a bowl with marbles and then put your hand into the bowl. Start stirring the marbles, occasionally lifting out a handful and letting them cascade back into the bowl. That's the closest I can come to the sound. I realized it was the sound of ice pieces colliding off one another and the concrete shore.

I never asked if the canal ever freezes or if the lake keeps it perpetually open. As much as I would love the view, the constant noise, particularly this kind of noise, I would not love. The natural world is so very interesting.

Beverage:  Dunkin' Donuts tea

Deb

Dark Night Stitching

What to do in an evening when there is no power and the heat is slipping in your open windows like a relative you never wanted to see again? I've been reading a lot of the magazines on the ottoman, polishing off roughly 2 a week. I think I've cut the pile by a third since the beginning of the year. I finished a book (review upcoming). I just didn't want to read. The girls and I sat looking at each other for many minutes after I returned from Pam's and dropping off my perishables. It was 8. It was still light outside. I knew going to bed would mean I'd be up from probably midnight to 4 a.m. and beyond tired Monday afternoon. I hauled out the cross-stitch.

Now that might seem rather silly. There's no light except for what dribbles through the windows. Pam loaned me a battery-operated lantern they have. I set that up next to me and started stitching.

This is a couple hours of work, mostly in the dark by the light of a small lantern. The girls were stretched out on the floor, where it really was cooler. I did fine. I noticed that the noises of the city were diminished. What I heard coming through the open windows, was the sound of night insects; buzzes, chirps and hums. Of course, without power, people have fled their homes, if they have friends or family to stay with or can afford a hotel room. If they don't, they are moving about minimally because it's hot. There was little street traffic. In spite of the reason we were all in the dark, it was rather peaceful.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Day 2 and we move on.

I think it dawned on Betsy early yesterday afternoon that Rascal wasn't coming back. I don't know if she'd gone up to Rascal's body although she was at the back door and meowing at me when I got home on Wednesday. The vet told me, when I had to make the decision for Shakespeare, that having the other cats smell the body is a good way for them to understand the other cat isn't coming back. Animals grieve as we do and it takes various forms.

She was clingy yesterday and stayed in the office with me. We napped a couple of times after I got home and she was content to be next to me in the bed. She nibbled at her food but didn't eat as much as she had been. I guess that's to be expected. I sort of roamed the kitchen knowing I needed to eat but unsure exactly what it was I wanted. I eventually made microwave s'mores but that wasn't really what I wanted. I need to clean out the cupboards and make a comprehensive grocery list. It's time to spend another $183 to forget bananas.

This morning, she followed me all over the house, not that she hasn't been doing that already, but the meow was different. Maybe it wasn't a "Don't leave me alone" meow, but, in my current state, that's how it sounds and it breaks my heart. I'm really hoping the boss leaves early as he is want to do on Fridays because I'm going to the grocery for vittles for tonight's Tempest Keep raid and then heading home and I want to leave early.

I know it's because of my state of mind, but I kept hearing noises that sounded like Rascal Wednesday night and yesterday. I kept hearing things like a cat jumping off the windowsill or out of the papsan chair or her meow from the kitchen or the sound of her footfalls in the hall. I still look for Shakespeare to come up from the basement or Penney to come out of my closet or Half-Pint to walk up my body in the morning to stick her face in mine, "Time to get up. It's light out and I don't care that it's 5:24 a.m." But then, I still sort of expect my dad to call to chat and sometimes, I can hear him clear his throat.

Fortunately, my travels are minimal now so the two of us can be middle-aged ladies living together. I hope the budget allows for her blood work that we can stabilize her. Once we both get through the grief, I have a feeling she should be better. There's no competition for affection or food now and she doesn't go outside without me. Although she gets annoyed with my repeated head scratches, she likes the attention. We will get through this.

I do know that I won't have to share my next Domino's pizza with anyone. Rascal adored Domino's and I wound up getting a large to share the meat with the cat. Betsy sniffs, but she's not interested. Oh! I need grenadine. I need real cherry Cokes tonight and chocolate cake.

Beverage: Blackberry tea

Deb