Wrapping it up...

Wrapping Christmas presents on Sunday afternoon while being entertained by old episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter on DEFY TV,  pulled in with a cheap indoor antenna attached to a tiny TV in the bedroom.  I don't know how much of that is more than you wanted to know.

Christmas is coming...

Not having decorated for Christmas for several years, I was determined to do so in our new home (new to us as of November 2021).   So I asked Hub and a young friend he had hired to help do some outdoor work to pull the plastic storage boxes down from their shelf in the outside garage.  In the past we'd stored these boxes in our attic, but last fall when we moved into this house Hub wanted to store them in the detached garage - that sits about 30 feet from our house.  Now...  when moving in we could see evidence of mice in that garage and to say I was not happy about storing anything out there that would ever come into the house is a huge understatement.  In the end, though, we were too tired once the boxes had been placed there, and I was dealing with an injured knee from the move so I gave in and let the boxes stay out there.  For over a year.  And I tried not to think about it...

Even though everything was in plastic containers, I was nervous about bringing the boxes into the house, so I had the guys put them in our sunroom and I decided I'd go through them out there.  To my great relief, there was not even the tiniest evidence of mice having gotten into any of it, so evidently those plastic boxes were sealed up really well.

Earlier this past week, still feeling puny from having been sick recently, I decided to take it slow and just stop when I was tired of it.   I got a small tree put up (a tree that belonged to Hub's mother), and got it decorated.  

While I've grown to love our home, we have a very strange configuration for our living room (it's two spaces in one and it's all in a squarish "L" shape.  With the way we have our furniture, there just didn't seem to be any good place to put the tree.  After talking about it, we decided to just put it in what amounts to basically almost, not really, but sort of the middle of the whole space, but behind the sofa, and we were really surprised at how nicely it works there.    

One of the reasons it works well is because our front door is half decorative glass, so placing the tree in this spot allows the pretty lights to sparkle through the window of the front door.   Some of the panes in the door windows are frosted, and all of the panes have beveled edges so the lights on this small tree are magnified in all the angles and edges of the windows.   Also, because the tree is fairly small and narrow, it tucks in behind the couch perfectly and isn't in the way at all.  And...  to top it off, the tree can be seen from several other rooms - the dining room, the den, even our bedroom.  Yes, indeed - I think we've found the perfect spot for a tree here.

And that has ended up being pretty much all the decorating I'm doing for Christmas.  We have a nice fireplace and mantel and I'd love to decorate it, but it needs some kind of statement piece - like a large mirror, or some architectural piece, or even a really large wreath.  If I figure this out, I'll take a picture, but at this rate, I'm thinking that may just have to wait another year 'till I have time and ability and the motivation for it.  I don't want to spend my energies right now looking for something I may not find.  I'd rather wait for it to show up - with minimal effort on my part.  That tends to be how I roll anymore...  

For now, I'll share pictures of some of the special ornaments on our tree.  Most of them old - some from when our boys were young, some from when we were young marrieds, and a few from our childhoods.   Some are hand made while others are factory made.  They are all special for different reasons.

I was tickled when middle son was visiting this week and the first ornament he looked for was this bird in a nest (above) and he reminisced a bit how that was always a special ornament to get to place in the tree, or look for if someone else hid it in the branches.

  

And, finally, I want to share a YouTuber I just can't get enough of lately.  The YouTube channel is called Celebrating Appalachia, and the presenter is Tipper Pressley. 

This video inspired me to share her with you today, but her videos are so varied and interesting.  She's a natural story teller with a soothing southern drawl and a heart  to share what is special about Appalachia - particularly her corner of it in North Carolina.  I encourage you to check her out.

I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season!

I've gotta stop doing this...

Disappearing that is...

You wouldn't know it, but I have started a number of posts in the last two months (in fact, this post was begun a couple of weeks ago), but I just couldn't bring myself to finish typing and hit publish.

Today I decided I just need to DO IT! and hope this post gets me over a what's been feeling like a very challenging autumn.

In the early weeks after my hand surgery, there didn't seem to be much to write about - except for the after-surgery pain, and I had no interest in writing about that.  Especially then.  And when occupational therapy started (about 3 1/2 weeks post surgery) suddenly I found myself both deliriously happy to be moving my painful stiff hand, and at the same time worried that therapy was starting late and going slowly.  From the start, though, my OTist has told me I'm doing great, and I can say that now that I'm 2 1/2 months post surgery, I do see the progress.   

Even so, I am daily tempted to worry because the progress is soooo slow. 

It just is.  It's not just me feeling that it is.  I'm assured every week that healing from this surgery is a long road, so I keep telling myself to not worry; all will fine in another 3 months or so.  That's what they keep telling me.

One YouTuber who's had CMC Arthroplasty surgery calls it brutal. Before my surgery I thought she was surely exaggerating, but now I get it.  The pain is tough in the early days after surgery - mostly due to doctors being fearful of giving out too much narcotic pain medicine, which just makes me angry if I can be completely honest.  And then in the early weeks after surgery the slow slog through therapy begins (mostly done at home, alone) and it becomes its own kind of brutal. Every new stretch, or squeeze, or push promises new pain - for a week or so until the hand gets used to that movement and sore muscles and tendons heal over and over again, it seems. 

Fortunately, most of that pain is behind me.   At this point, the main discomfort I feel is some residual stiffness due to there still being a bit of swelling, and there remains nerve pain from the surgery.  The nerve pain can take me by surprise and it's rough when it strikes, but I am told this is normal, and should heal over time.

So... I will not sugar coat it.  While I don't want to discourage anyone from considering this surgery, it should not be entered into lightly.  I hope, some months from now I can tell you it was worth it, but I only know right now that it's been a slog.  That said, I hang onto daydreams of holding needlework in this hand, and stitching with the other.  I imagine playing the piano, and even picking up a guitar (though I can't quite fathom my left thumb ever being strong enough to brace against the back of a guitar neck again).  I promise, though, if it does get strong enough I'll shout it from the roof top - of this blog, anyway.  

I can fix my hair finally.  Remember I mentioned early on I got a perm a couple weeks before surgery?  I thought it would be a great wash and wear hair style.  It was not.  For two months, I had to labor one-handed, applying product, and slowly diffusing my hair to partial dryness so I could look like a curly poodle instead of a frizzy bichon.  I think it was two weeks ago I found my hand was strong enough to grasp my hot rollers.  I now have my smooth hair back - and the perm provides some nice body.  The perm is finally, paying off for me.  

Let me be clear...  I love curly hair.  Especially others' curly hair.  Hub and sons have curly hair and it's amazing.  I might have enjoyed learning how to work with mine if I hadn't given myself curly hair two weeks before becoming one-handed. It was a silly lesson to have to learn, but I've learned it's better to work with what is familiar in such a situation rather than think two weeks before a major challenge is a good time to introduce something new. 

Okay... enough about my hand.   And my hair.   Even though my hair has been a thing...

If anyone is actually reading this, I really don't deserve you.  But thank you, if you're here. Not only did I not have it in me to be active on my own blog, I found I had little to give when visiting others' blogs. I tried for a week or two, and then fizzled.  Soon it became impossible to keep up, let alone catch up.  Who knew having two surgeries in 3 1/2 months' time could suck so much inner drive out of a person.  I sure didn't.

And then there was Covid.  Yep...  the year just wouldn't have been complete if I didn't catch Covid.  And boy - has it kicked my keister!  I caught it a little over a week ago when helping a single girlfriend who was so sick she had to go the ER.  She was severely dehydrated and thought maybe she had the flu.  It didn't matter to me what she had, she needed help, and I was glad to be there for her.  I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but when the doctor came into her little room where we had been sharing air space for a couple of hours to tell her the results of her test, I was not expecting to hear she had Covid.  I know...  What rock have I been living under?!?

Ah well...  I've been saying for the last year, we all just need to suck it up and expect to take our turn with it, so it appeared my turn had finally come.  

A little segue...  After consulting with my doctor last spring I told her I was inclined to take a pass on the Covid boosters.  Things had gotten better, I didn't have any serious health concerns, and the number of infections were way down back then.  The word was Omicron wasn't as bad as previous variants.  Really hadn't Covid stopped being something we needed to worry so much about?  Well, somehow it was suddenly November (the week of Thanksgiving, no less) and I evidently didn't notice that people were getting sick again.  

That is, until hubs went to every pharmacy in town (I can't remember when - maybe Monday?) to buy me some cough medicine with alcohol in it and the shelves were bare.  It seems EVERYone is getting sick again.  He brought home a number of offerings, but none promised to put me to sleep and out of my miserable congested, coughing state.

After three nights of struggling to sleep, I searched the house and discovered a several year's old (expired by over a year) bottle of overnight cold and flu medicine laced with 10% alcohol.  I swigged a shot down and smiled as my innards warmed, imagining the sleep I'd soon be enjoying.  It's becoming my nightly ritual.  I'm smiling just thinking about it now.

It's been a slow climb out of the congestion and coughing.  And the fatigue renders me pretty useless still - now 5 days in.  On Monday I had a virtual appointment with my doctor and while she prescribed Paxlovid (at my request) she did tell me for as many days as I'd been sick already, the unpleasant side effects of the Pax might not be worth it since I'd likely be better before I was finished with the 5-day regimen.  I thought on it, and I decided to forgo it, and have continued to slog through with my cough medicine and maximum strength generic Mucinex, and figure sooner or later I'll emerge - singing the high notes again.  Well, the alto notes, anyway...

BTW, one of the reasons I even brought up the Covid shots, and me not getting boosted is because my dear hubs (after getting his 3rd, 4th & 5th? jabs) had been asking me if I was going to get mine.  "Nah", I said.  I didn't think it was necessary.  

The chances of getting seriously sick are pretty slim I thought.

Even when my friend looked at me sadly and said how sorry she was that I was now exposed to Covid, I smiled and said, "It was going to happen sooner or later.  I've made peace with it."

So cavalier was I.

Okay...  so I'm likely going to make a full recovery, but the real story here is Hubs has been basically symptom free while I've been hacking up a lung for the last 5 days.  He had a bit of a scratchy throat a day or two after I came down sicker than a dog, but now he tells me he feels fine.  I'll be sure to update if he comes down sick, but dang!  If his boosters are what has made his airways like teflon, I'm thinking the credit most likely goes to the shots.

We'll never know for sure.  Maybe he just has some super power resistance to Covid (doubtful), or maybe he just hasn't walked through any virus ladened mists I've left behind (not likely), or maybe it's the N95 mask he wears when he enters a room I'm occupying.  I don't know.  I just wish I'd gotten boosted this fall.  I wish I could have potentially experienced feeling like I have super powers too.  

To be clear (again - because I really like to be clear) I'm not into telling others what they should do.  This isn't meant to be an endorsement of these "vaccines".  I don't care if people get vaccinated or not - against anything, really.  I'm as against mandatory Covid shots as I ever was.  I'm just relating our anecdotal experience.

This post has gone on way too long.  Be thankful I'm not going to bore you with all that's gone on since I was last here.  So much has happened this fall, that I've already forgotten most of it.  It has been a ride, though.  And I'm glad the roller coaster of 2022 is going to be shutting down soon.

I'm so worn out by this year that I think after this post, I may just continue my blogging break until the new year.  I might do a 2022 wrap-up.  Or I may just give 2022 quick good-bye kiss and kick it to the curb.

I have missed visiting with many of you on your blogs.  I'm going to start showing my face again, but I'm going to right here, right now, ask your forgiveness for not even trying to catch up with all I've missed.  I hope you all are having a better final quarter of 2022.  Or if you're struggling, I hope I can glean enough from what you're now sharing to be able to offer encouragement to you.

If you're still reading, you are really too kind.  If you leave me a comment and let me know you were here, I'll mention you in my prayers - giving thanks to my Heavenly Father for you and your encouragement.

Love and peace to you all.  

Early days of autumn...

The Pampas Grass blows regally in the breeze

Asparagus seed balls turn a beautiful shade of red...

And other things start showing themselves in the asparagus bed...

...like thistles - Yikes, these got big!

And I have no idea what these blue berries are.  Any ideas?

These sedum (planted on the east side of the house) started out so tiny in the spring, but have overgrown the area they began in:

Next spring I think I will divide these and plant some on the south side of the house and see if the color changes with full sun, and maybe dryer conditions.  We've never had Sedum (also called Stonecrop) before.  Given they got no attention all summer, I'm calling this a completely effortless plant.

I think I took this picture of the garden a week ago:

The dying tomato and squash plants have all been removed, and all that is standing today are yellow brittle cucumber plants (on the far right, front), the Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the back center, and a Marconi Giant Pepper plant (front and center).

At this point, I'm hoping the remaining Marconi Peppers will at least begin to turn red so I can bring them inside to finish ripening before we get some cold weather this weekend.  Every other day I'm able to harvest enough green beans for a meal (though I clean, cut and freeze them, usually).  I'm ready to just let the remaining seed pods dry out and then see if they are harvestable for planting next spring.

Editing this post just to be clear that I am not doing the work of removing dead plants.  I'm not doing anything I can't do one-handed.  While I give some direction on what is finished up and can be pulled, Hub is doing the actual work of cleaning up the garden.  

 

While autumn is my most favorite time of the year, and I always look forward to putting growing things to rest outside (even in our smaller in-town yard I looked forward to cleaning out the flower beds and pots, and cutting things down), I have to admit having only one reasonable-working hand puts a damper on my enthusiasm for the season this year.  I'm not complain' (much), just explainin'.

I hope you're enjoying your autumn wherever you are!  Or your spring if you're in the southern hemisphere!  The two most wonderful times of the year...  😊

Week three after hand surgery...

 Monday of this week, I traded this:

for this:

A fun happening...  The Physical or Occupational Therapist who created my splint is a young lady I've known since she was probably in middle school.  Her family and ours were in two homeschool co-ops together, and eventually in the same church.  I don't think I've seen her but maybe once since she graduated and went off to college.  And now 12 years later we ran into each other in an Indianapolis hospital and I had the pleasure of receiving the sweetest care while we caught up a bit on each other's families.  Is that just the best kind of surprise or what!

While the removable splint is its own kind of miserable, it's definitely an improvement over the thick splint and wrap I left the surgery center in two weeks prior.   Mostly because I can take this one off for short stints when I'm sitting and not moving my hand.  

Above, I show the liner I wear with the splint, and provide links below on the chance that anyone reading finds themselves ever needing something like this.   I bought these off Amazon:  A package of off-white ones (in size small) that match my splint, and a package of white ones (medium size) that are a little less expensive.  I found these by accident when I went online looking for more of the material the OT gave me because I realized once I was home that what I was given from OT wouldn't last me very long.

The liner I received in OT didn't have a thumb section - only a hole the OT-ist cut to poke one's thumb through.  What speeded my realization that a thumb section on a liner would be a great help is that the cut thumb hole stretched.  A LOT.  Which was problematic because I found it really difficult to tolerate my now nerve-sensitive skin being in constant contact with the plastic splint.  And when my super tender skin near the surgery site would occasionally pull away from the plastic (or I would pull the splint away from my skin), it was downright painful.   It only took me one night of that misery to decide to purchase these liners.  And thank goodness, through the wonders of Amazon Prime I had them the next evening.  Wearing a liner with a long thumb covering makes a big difference in the comfort level.  If you're ever fitted with a hard splint, I recommend a liner like this.  I've also seen someone wear these with soft splints.  I imagine they would help a soft splint stay a bit cleaner...

Just for fun, here's a picture the surgeon drew for Hub after surgery - to show him what was involved:

My surgeon does a variation of CMC Arthroplasty, where after removing the trapezium bone (at the base of the thumb) he pulls tendons together under the thumb to create a little sling or hammock to support the remaining thumb bones.  This surgery is done to relieve (and remove) severe arthritis of the basal joint of the thumb.  A not uncommon ailment for women (and some men) around my age (early 60's).

My OT (who is someone different from my young friend who created my splint) told me that of all the patients he helps (working with patients of 3 different hand surgeons in the same practice), the ones with this type of surgery and after-surgery-splinting seem to have the fewest complaints during OT.  I'm braced for quite a bit of pain before completely healing, but since I haven't started OT yet, I don't really have a clue what exactly that means.  I'm feeling thankful, but not sure why.

And that's week three after surgery!  I don't necessarily plan to give regular updates, but if anyone is interested in what is involved (either before or directly after surgery, or during the physical and occupational therapy), let me know and I might just share more.  I expect to be doing the work of therapy for the next three months.  Hopefully, I'll finish before the end of the year, but time will tell.

Praying for people struggling with the devastation of Hurricane Ian.  And for those who perhaps didn't lose anyone, or anything valuable, but are going to experience their own kind of loss as they help others, and simply live and work amongst the constant reminders of this tragedy.  It's amazing to see so many volunteers already setting up to help those in need, and to serve those who are already working tirelessly to rescue and recover.  While Operation BBQ Relief has been around for years, I heard about this organization for the first time on tonight's ABC evening news.  The segment with David Muir was more detailed and gave more information about what all is really involved in this operation, but this will give you an idea of what these people do, if you don't know:

I love the comment:  "Tell me you're American without telling me you're an American."   

Late summer glory...

 
Credit for this photo of a dewy dragonfly belongs to my dear friend, Lynne - whose old gate captivated me when we visited in early August.  Lynne sent this picture to me (several weeks ago now) with a note that said I had "reminded her to look for everyday beauty".  A wonderful compliment!

Thank you, Lynne!  I'm sorry it took me so long to post it.  Though I know you know I've been a bit distracted in recent weeks.

Oh...  And just for fun...  turns out flowers in at least one Walmart are intentional.

Summer garden is closing...

September started out busy and full, but it's coming to a screeching halt with hand surgery today.  The surgery I'm going to have is CMC Arthroplasty.  It's to relieve basal joint arthritis in the thumb.  I'm having the left hand done first.  If it's a success, then in a year or two I hope to have the right hand done too.  Surgery has felt like a long time coming, and yet it's amazing that it's now here already.  Why is it always that way?

By the time you read this, I may actually be finished with surgery and home!

While I've been quiet online these past few weeks, it's been busy here.  Finishing up a 2021 tax return for my brother's estate, and an amended return for 2020 has been an excruciating experience as I've worked with an accountant that has been a serious disappointment.  But all of it is finally on its way to the IRS and to the State, and I'm relieved to have that task finished.

Other than that, what has occupied me is the stuff of life. I've enjoyed gardening this summer, and doing some food preservation.  There was a real push these last few days to finish up whatever I could since I won't be able to do that kind of thing again 'till my hand heals up.  We ended up giving a bag of cucumbers to friends on Monday because I had other things I wanted to do the day and night before surgery.  I doubt I'll be posting anymore for the rest of the month (unless I can find a draft that's ready to post).  I'll try to visit my blogging buddies in the upcoming days, but if I'm able to type comments I imagine they'll be short and sweet.

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, and Marconi Giant sweet peppers have been a regular sight in the kitchen.  I can't believe I've failed to take pictures of it all during these last weeks especially.  While I regret that, I'm happy to be putting away the canner, and unused jars, and all the paraphernalia that goes along with preserving the fruits of summer.  

Here's just a small glimpse into what was happening around here the last few weeks.

These few pictures do not capture all I've been up to.  Because the green beans were ready for picking in too small of batches to can, I froze all of them as I picked them.  What we didn't eat fresh, that is.  Sweet peppers, zucchini and squash were either enjoyed fresh, or were frozen for future use.  And while the last pictures show what I canned, it's just part of what is in the pantry.  

Making pickles was a totally new experience for me.  Dill pickles were fairly easy, but Bread and Butter pickles were a challenge.  The first batch I made I thought were good, and I even shared them with some friends, but after that I just couldn't get the taste right.  I admit I've thrown out almost as much pickled cucumbers as I've ended up with.  One of these days I hope to have a taste test of the batches I've saved with my sons who like B&B pickles.  I'm hoping to find there are a few jars that are worth eating. 

Oh, and I almost forgot...  yesterday I dehydrated a bunch of walking onions for future use.  A large bowl of them were cut up and after dehydrating were reduced to a mere pint-size jar.  My dehydrator (that I hadn't used in many years) didn't appear to be working very well, so I finished them off in the oven.  I should have just started with the oven - I would have saved myself so much time.  Unless these onions are just amazing dehydrated, I don't know that I will do this again in the future.

And that, friend, wraps up a summer of gardening and food preservation.  With strawberries and cherries frozen in the spring time, then peaches in August, and the garden produce "put up" during the last weeks of summer, I'm looking forward to fall and winter and cooking with these things we grew.  

And lastly, while I'm not about to post a picture of myself right now - mostly because I recently got a perm, thinking it would make a great wash & wear hairdo while I'm limited to one hand for a few weeks, nevermind there is nothing wash & wear about it...  I thought I'd look for some old pictures of the first garden Hub and I had.

We rented a small bungalow house when were first married, and the landlords owned a lot with a tilled-up patch behind our house.  They offered it to us to plant a garden if we liked, and we went to it.  Looking at the pictures, I'm amazed at how large it was.  I don't remember if we planted that whole thing, or perhaps just the freshly hoed ground in front of the fencing material behind us.

 Just for fun, this is 22 year-old me, 

and 27 year-old Greg

putting in our first garden.

And me with one of my first jars of home-canned green beans:

I remember being so proud of those green beans.  And proud of being brave enough to use a pressure canner.   I had never canned before that summer, but I grew up hearing the rattling of the pressure regulator on my mother's pressure canner and that was enough to give me courage to give it a go.  I know now there is a rubber safety plug that would have blown out had the pressure built up too much to be dangerous, but I didn't realize that back in 1981.  The canner in the earlier pictures is the same canner I used in 1981.  I believe it was a wedding gift.  I haven't canned in over 20 years, but even for a 42 year-old pressure canner, I was able to easily replace the gasket and an overpressure plug, and it worked perfectly for me.

This is a wrap!  I hope your summer is winding down nicely, and you're looking forward to autumn.  I sure am.  This is my favorite time of year.