It could have been so much worse

A week ago today I was put in 'lockdown,' at least as far as I was concerned. What a time to be laid up!

Knowing that Poppy would go even more stir-crazy than I, the next day I drove her to our friends' house. Poppy played with Glory inside (while I sat), then we drove to a nearby dog park so they could run and play some more (while I sat). I did take a couple photos for a Ravelry spinning challenge:

Once home again, Poppy was content to nap the rest of the day away, which is just what I had hoped for. A tired terrier is a good terrier!

Thursday turned cold, damp, and windy, just a mild appetizer to the approaching winter storm. I thought of Stella being cooped up for days, and decided to drive down to the barn and lead her out to the arena for a romp. She didn't do much and I got cold, so I put her away, drove to the henhouse to collect eggs, and back to the garage. It was good to see my ponies, however briefly, and I wasn't very active. Later I decided to make supper, using this recipe as a springboard to this:

It was tasty!

By the end of the day I realized that I probably been more active than the doctor intended. I checked my FitBit. Wednesday I logged 4,725 steps; Thursday it was 5,159 steps. Considering that my daily goal is 12,000 steps and occasionally I have to work at reaching that, I was a bit shocked. None of those steps were brisk strides, but still. Not to mention that my leg wrap seemed to be migrating downward. Mind you, I had that sensation when I first stood up to leave the doctor's office; I kept trying to pull it up Wednesday and had Rick add some adhesive wrap around the top that night to keep it from sliding. Friday morning he actually took the vet wrap off (removing a bit of my skin in the process, I'm pretty sure) and rewrapped it, adding more tape. I tried much harder to be inactive (it takes more effort than being active!), and kept it under 2000 steps that day. Of course, the weather helped my efforts....

Thursday night the drizzle we had all day started freezing to surfaces. Friday morning there was a layer of ice covered by a skiff of snow, we had no electricity (or wi-fi) and the house was 63° even with a fire.

The freezing drizzle continued all day Friday and on and off Saturday and Sunday. There was a bit of melting at times, but total accumulation increased. When Rick had to venture out for veterinary calls and a fuel run for the generator, chains all around on his 4WD truck were an absolute necessity to get down and up our hill. From our windows and doorways I watched in horrified helplessness as our trees bowed down with their icy burdens; the cracks, booms, and prolonged crashes testified that branches and trees were losing the battle.

The generator alternated between providing us water or keeping refrigerator and freezer cold; we learned it can't do both and had a period of panic that in trying to make it do so we burned out our new well pump. But a neighbor came over and helped Rick sleuth it out, and the pump started working. Hallelujah! We loaned our little generator to our neighbors in hopes that it would power their pellet stove. It couldn't, but did give them lights (they could warm up and use the fridge and stove in their little camp trailer when necessary). Here at home, I kept a coat on Poppy and fleecy layers on myself to stay as warm as possible. Our wood-burning fireplace doesn't provide a lot of heat without the fan blowing! Fortunately, we never experienced the severe cold here that much of the country was and is; the lowest it got was upper 20s.

We didn't have to concern ourselves about whether or not to go to church; it was cancelled and not just because of weather. Turns out a couple who attended the previous Sabbath (and attended our study class) got sick that evening, and have since tested positive for COVID-19. One of our class members has since gotten sick and also tested positive. 😔

candle shadows

Where there's a will, there's a way!

For awhile, PGE stopped giving updates on the restoration of power; we heard on the news that thousands of lines were down in their service area, and hundreds of thousands were without power. The ice-dam broke by the time we got up Monday so I called again to check, and got a recorded message with an estimated time of 10:30 pm Tuesday. But lo and behold, it came back on just before noon yesterday! And to my joy, my beloved Japanese maples had emerged from their icy cocoons largely unscathed. Other trees sustained a lot more damage; the neighbors sent a photo of our ravaged aspen from their side of the fence:

My hummingbird feeder iced over Friday night, and although I thawed it out as soon as I discovered it, I didn't see any hummers come back. I was afraid that they might have died without constant access to fuel, so was thrilled to see this Anna's back on Monday morning!

Rick has been busy all along getting branches off our driveway, fences, and entry gate. There are many hours more of clean-up to do; he has only managed the bare minimum, along with doing all the animal chores, getting firewood, holding horses for the farrier this morning, and, of course, his vet work. It is so very aggravating to not be able to tackle any of it myself; the mess inside and out is distressing to say the least. Hopefully in just one more week....

Patience is a virtue still being developed at . . .