Gnarly, man!

I do hope you are all having a good day/Thanksgiving. Here, it's been a week of gnarly. I felt a cold trying to get a toe-hold on Monday, but thought I might beat it with lots of water, Vitamin C, zinc, and rest, and went to bed early. Tuesday my car had a long appointment to get its suspension systems replaced, so a friend* picked me up and we had coffee and ran errands together. By the time my car was ready I was so tired, and SO COLD! I turned my seat and cabin heaters on high and was comfortable by the time I got home, but the house was cold (the fire had gone out the night before). I turned my electric blanket on high and pre-heat and crawled in to warm up again, and fell deeply asleep. Good thing I had set an alarm or I probably would have slept right through my MRI appointment. By then I wondered if I had a fever and was hoping to avoid any questions or temp-taking at the hospital which would have postponed my appointment, because I have another appointment on December 5 that hinges on the MRI results. Fortunately for me (and hopefully not unfortunately for anyone else) I skated through and got the MRIs. Again, I had to run the car heaters on full blast, and crawled back in bed when I got home. Besides being insufferably cold, my head was throbbing, my brain was muddled, and my skin was hypersensitive. I crawled out of bed after 10 pm to eat a grapefruit, couldn't taste it, and took a COVID test:

Wednesday morning Rick, who along with his secretary has been fighting a 'cold,' decided to test as well. Also positive. Of course. So much for our Thanksgiving plans.

My gnarly MRI results arrived on Wednesday. Extensive, complex tears in the menisci, full thickness articular cartilage loss, severe patellofemoral arthritis – in BOTH. I'm looking at total knee replacements . . . eventually. Symptoms are the reason to do TKRs, not test results, and right now I'm mostly functional with daily naproxen sodium. But that light at the end of the tunnel? It's a train. 🙄

I continue to look for those pretty/peaceful/positive images to share daily on IG/FB; I need that focus now more than ever. Here are the photos and captions posted since my last blogpost:

Shetlands are sometimes called "hill sheep, I have a subset – 'tree sheep.'

One of the many things I like about 'our' town is its public art. This sculpture by Steve Tyree (who lives on the same hill as us) is in front of our hospital.

It's Beautyberry season!

Oh, and I've finished the first sleeve of my sweater! One sleeve left to go....

*Said friend was vaccinated, so isn't worried. Thankful!

That's the gnarly news from . . .

An even dozen

Today I broke up my one and only breeding group pair by removing Bridget from Bijou in the Ram-ada lot and putting her in with the other girls, who were already out on pasture. Bridget had to be investigated, of course; several thought she smelled verrrrry interesting.

Yep, I have, count 'em, twelve girls now. 😳

My other adult ewes have been taking turns standing at the fence plaintively calling to Bench and Sanson across the driveway, which drives them (and me) to distraction. The ewes are so clearly showing their 2-3 day heat cycles that I'm considering halter-breeding pairs in the future. If successful, I'd have firm lambing dates and could plan around things like our church's spring women's retreat. Don't know when that future might be, though – certainly not unless/until I sell some!

It's been over six weeks since Bud got his leg caught in his feeder; it's time to x-ray his shoulder again and see if it's healed/healing. (Not sure when that will happen; Rick has been spending every spare minute working on the shop.) Bud doesn't try to use his right leg at all; just packs it around like this:

If the broken bone has healed, I think his leg is going to need some physiotherapy to function again.

Here are the most recent daily IG/FB photos with captions (if they had one).

This evening there were three Red-tailed Hawks soaring and screeching above our place. I love watching and hearing them!

A lovely way  to end the Sabbath Day.

Fragrant, hot loaves.

That camellia bud is on a tall shrub at the home of a friend. Camellias around town (we've never had one) often seem soggy and messy because they bloom during our wet season, but this one is delightful. Here the other photos I took of it:

Busy week ahead. Both my car and my knees have appointments on Tuesday, and of course Thursday is Thanksgiving. We're joining a big group at my MIL's house for that; I have my assigned menu items to prep and make Wednesday and Thursday.

That's it for now from . . .

My daily therapy

Following are the daily photos with captions that I've shared on IG/FB starting November 6 through today, minus the four I shared in my last post and a couple I had already deleted. Some days I've shared more than one, as from the outing Stella and I took on Sunday (big horse blog update coming), and the day I posted the ferns and fungi. From here on, I'll include the photos from my daily IG/FB posts with my ~weekly posts here. As I said in my last post, looking for pretty/peaceful/positive things to post every day helps keep me sane in a crazy world, so this will continue for the foreseeable future!

Look for the light in God's creativity and love.

Still focusing on the light.

Some of the girls.

Still my big red goober, looking fine this fall.

The season that makes my senses sing!

Good morning!

TOTALLY worth the clean-up.😍

Full color or black and white? I enjoy both!

Friday night lights.

Our first time trying the OHC Mountain Trail course. SO fun–and Stella rocked every element!

Blessings of rain.

My beautiful Poppy–definitely a bright light in my world!

And that's a wrap! This morning I blew the leaves and debris out of the arena for the last (6th?) time this year. I love fall, but celebrate when the last of the Bigleaf Maples at the south end are bare. Now the horses can get out and stretch their legs, and I can school Stella, more often.

That's it for now from . . .

Choosing what to focus on

On November 6, I decided to start posting a pretty/peaceful/positive photo a day to Instagram (and sharing it on Facebook). Looking for said photo opportunities is keeping me grounded when the world around me is tempest tossed. Sometimes I see something that begs repeating (like a WWII PSA reel), but there's no point. I'd either be preaching to/commiserating with the choir (surprisingly unsatisfying), or provoking the rest (though never provoking thought, just reaction 🙄). As I commented on Leigh's blog, "I don't spend much time analyzing 'the world and its ways;' I live in it but that is not where my security or future is. I've read the end of the book; it's going to get a lot worse before the ultimate 'better.'" So I cling to the truth of which I testified like a flotation device, look for beauty in God's creation, and remind myself to aid "the least of these." In addition, having animals gets me outside and moving, which also helps my mood/attitude if not my knees. (MRIs of both knees are scheduled for November 26; appointment with Portland clinic is on December 5).

What say you? Should I post all my daily photos here on my blog as well? (I thought I had a link to my Instagram account at right but it seems to have disappeared; you can access it here, no need to have an account). You know I usually make and save more than one photo a day; I could share the others here and leave the daily photos there, or share all of them here. Or?

Right now you get what you get, as these are the only photos I had already moved to my laptop from my iPhone. Our internet is temporarily down at home and I have too much else to do to stay here at work for the wi-fi any longer. Give me your feedback so I know what to post when next I can!

That's it for now from . . .

Go, green!

What is that dark green I can see through the leaves from the front door?

Rick and Brian got all the metal siding they had (Rick miscalculated) installed on Sunday, two and a half sides worth. There is still much to do to complete it, but it looks like something now.

As does my sweater. I tried it on Friday to determine the length needed, and knit on. Before Sunday ended, the body was completed. I have two skeins left, one for each sleeve; perfect!

I went with green for Monday supper, too, making vegan Pozole Verde for the first time, with zucchini from this year's garden and some dehydrated tomatillos from a previous year's harvest. Brian and I like it; Rick wasn't thrilled. C'est la vie.

There is vibrant green in the landscape, even though fall colors tend to take center stage this time of year.

That's it for now for all the colors around . . .