The one-two jab

 I've been having the itch to write here. Some times I can go months, other times weeks, and occasionally, I knock posts one after another. Writing is a way for me to process, and to purge. Just as with my creative, hand-made projects that build up in my head and eventually need to come to life through my hands, writing about feelings and life and the thoughts that build up in my head, come to life through my hands and the keys on my computer. Some times my burden is heavy, and laying it all down on my keyboard is my only way of relieving some of it. So grab a cup o' something and nestle in while I unpack some Winter joy, and happenings.

As I age, I have come to embrace the seasons more. When I was a child, I loved them all! Every day out in nature was magick, always something to do and see! In the Spring and Summer, I played outside alone and with friends. Riding bikes, playing at the park, kickball, etc. In the Fall, I was that kid that jumped in everyone's nicely raked pile of leaves on the curb. In the Winter? I'd find a small area of frozen water and would spend hours pretending like I was ice skating, or would run and slide across. One of my favorite sights of Winter is sparkling snow. But then again, I love anything sparkly. Sparkly is my version of "squirrel!".

As an adult, I still find the magick in Winter. The sparkling snow in the sunshine, the tracks left by animals, and then the more Science-y parts like sun halos. Freaking. Awesome. And to think that this beauty would go unnoticed on a planet not inhabited by humans. I couldn't imagine never seeing this kind of beauty. I am grateful to be able to witness these things.

We are in the part of Winter where it truly is time to hunker down. Even if I wasn't recovering from surgery, there would be more time at home, less driving, though maybe still walks locally. I kind of got used to seeing browns, and some greens, even into the Winter months. But at some point, the seasonal weather has to move in, right? Things are the way they are for a reason, Mother Nature knows what she is doing.

Forecasts are all over the place, so I am getting used to feeling with my body, and seeing with my eyes. Preparing, but still living. We have typically been well below the forecasted amounts, but it's been less about the totals and more about the iciness and the way people drive that becomes the concern.

Hobbling around in this crap is hard. And dangerous. My other hip surgery a few years ago was done later in the year, so ice and snow were less of a concern. It brings about things you didn't have to think of before, like: closer parking spots to the door of physical therapy (which some times are filled by able-bodied people and then I have to walk on crutches across an ice and snow covered parking to even to get to the icy sidewalk in front of the business). Having enough space in the parking spot to open my door completely wide open, and finagle myself and crutches out of the car without slipping and without hitting the other car. Once I get to the business, how do I open the door? I'm on crutches, trying not to slip, while also trying to open a door, hold that open while making it through on the crutches, and not have it close on me. Then there is the issue of wet and slick rubber stoppers on the bottom of my crutches once I make it inside. Luckily, therapy has carpet, but I have to be really careful when we get home and immediately dry off the tips before trying to move across our laminate planking floor, because the crutches slip around. I have yet to go to a physical therapy appointment without Woodchuck because of these things.

Just yesterday, after PT, and while we were waiting for a business to open, we stopped to get breakfast. I dislike trying to be in a restaurant right now. Slick crutch stoppers, trying to find a place to put my crutches that make them still accessible to me but also out of the way for everyone else. Then if I need to go to the bathroom? Getting in there, taking the brace off, keeping the crutches handy but out of the way, and don't even get me started if one or both fall over to the floor! But when we came out of the business, another person had parked so close to my car that I had to move sideways to get past our mirrors. Sideways. On crutches, in ice and snow. That person was still sitting in their car when we came out, Woodchuck waving when they looked, and pointed to me and our car. They did nothing to help the situation. They could have easily moved their car a little farther over, but sat there on their phone, with the vehicle running. Woodchuck normally goes ahead of me, while walking backwards a bit to keep on eye on me, then he opens my door for me, etc. The other vehicle was so close, he couldn't do that, had to let me go ahead of him and then come up and open the door. I barely had room to maneuver to get myself and my crutches in without causing damage somewhere. But it worked out, no thanks to the self-absorbed, entitled jerk in the other vehicle.

We continue now to have more snowy days than not, because of course. Honestly though, I would be nervous about most surgeries at this time of year and moving around outside. I remember when I had my shoulder surgery in 2020....I was so scared that I was going to slip and fall outside, or in the shower, and land on that shoulder!

The worst part, physically, of this surgery? The stitches. DUDE! I know they have to be tight and tough to handle the movement of the area, but they burned and stretched and would catch on my clothing. Not to mention that the major one was nearly in the crease of my leg where the elastic of my underwear sat. We resorted to me wearing Woodchucks loose and roomy boxer briefs, which were a breath of fresh air in so many ways! They were heaven when I had on loose pants, but if I had on something more form-fitting, the underwear would bunch around my legs and other parts. How do guys do it?! Don't answer that.

I took some time once I could comfortably sit on a hard chair, to go over SD cards from the land. I had changed them out recently, so there wasn't much on the main ones, but we had the new one by a previous den of sorts on the West edge of the pond. That one caught some beauties! We normally have the trail cams higher up on trees, but we put this one lower, and were rewarded with some beautiful shots!

The snow continues, and I sit and wonder what it looks like at the land? What will it be like to be able to watch it from the windows of the new house? And to just throw on Winter garb and head out the door for a walk in it without having to drive to it first? I am trying to curtail my enthusiasm while still looking forward to it. Life has had a way of crushing joy and excitement, so I am very, very careful now.

In the first couple of weeks after surgery, there was lots of snuggling with my feline nurse, though she was careful about getting around my hip. She tried once, but I still had stitches and wasn't ready for her to touch that area, even through fabric. As I become more mobile, she finds her patches of sunshine, which we are both grateful to feel.

Woodchuck has been great about trying to keep up with things around the house, while still working full time, 6 days a week. I think that he might have a better appreciation for how much I do in a day, and how often it has to be done. SAYING you are appreciative and understand is totally different from SEEING it for yourself! One of the extras that I couldn't get to before surgery was patching the wall inside the front door that got damaged with the couch delivery. Normally, Woodchuck isn't allowed to caulk, paint, etc. But there was no holding him back. For the most part he did a great job, but true to Woodchucks form, he kept going. There was a spot on the stairway that got damaged when our youngest graduated from college and moved his stuff back in. I didn't know he was going to try and fix it too. Once I saw that he had put the spackling on, I asked him about the paint. Had he found it? I knew he had been looking for it. He brought me the paint that he had found, and I told him that it was not the same color as the living room and kitchen wall, which is the paint he had found. As you can see, that didn't stop him 😂 It doesn't matter, whomever buys the house will repaint anyway, but Woodchuck needs to work on listening, lol.

He and the youngest had their eyes on yet another piece of workout equipment to try and fit into the workshop space. It's dangerous territory over there. You either trip, smash a shin against thick metal, or hit your head on something. Have I mentioned that I am looking forward to a space that is entirely mine and mine alone at the next house? Looking back I can see how I have integrated others, and their stuff, into my own. In so many ways. I am slowly reclaiming my own, sacred spaces. 

Trying to make room for the new piece required Woodchuck to clear up a corner that he had hoarded and ignored. So he stopped to get several totes, filled them up, loaded my car, and we made a quick trip to the land. I never got out of the car, it was too cold and too dangerous with the snow and ice. 

It was going to get even colder than this, so I am glad that we made the trip now, though it would have been even better while Woodchuck was on his vacation in December. I had reservations about making the trip on this day, because we had had snow and that can build up at the end of the driveway, making it hard to get in. Getting in turned out to be the easy part. He got my car stuck in the driveway trying to get out because of the lower elevation of it leading up to the road...that the rope he has tied across the driveway that is only a car length in. He eventually had to undo that to be able to back the car up farther to get a running start. Have I mentioned that Woodchuck really needs to start listening to me? 😁

I can see that with Woodchucks decision to not put any snow system in place on the barn roof, we will now need to remedy that after the fact. The snow slides right off and piles up in front of the doors. We plan on having a metal roof on the house too, and can't have this happening. He says he doesn't care if it happens on the back side of the house, but doesn't want it on the front side. I say, why pick and choose? If you are dealing with the front part of the roof, why not just deal with the whole roof? Why have piles of snow sitting up against the sliding back doors? Maybe there is something I don't know that he does? Either way, it will all get dealt with this year. Along with the man-door on the barn that tends to get testy in the cold temps.

As I sat there in the car, I scanned the woods. Would there be anything up and moving around in this weather? I was rewarded with a deer! It was too far away to get good pictures. But we looked at the fort I made, and nothing has used it yet. That doesn't surprise me, it is at the front of the land, and probably not all that great of a structure. I don't take offense! The wildlife are better builders than me anyway!

The first meal that I've been able to make since surgery was a yummy ginger and edamame pasta. It was SO good, but I think I can go even heavier on the ginger next time. I haven't been cooking much because it's too hard to get around on crutches, while also being able to carry ingredients and utensils, etc.

I also feel very lucky to finally be catching up on reading! I have stacks and stacks of books in my closet to read and wasn't getting the time to! I really didn't want to have to move a bunch of books that hadn't been read yet. I've read 4 books so far this year (one was started last year). My reading book challenge was 6 books for the year. I figured that would give me a couple of months per book, though there are times, like right now, that I am getting through more books than usual. It all evens out, is how I look at it. This book was REALLY good, I read it in 3 days, and kind of on target for the times we are living in. I got most of my books from the resale shop that I used to work at, but also book sales along the way. I have to stay away from those books sales because I have NO self control when it comes to books!

A friend that works at the resale shop still, sends me pictures occasionally of items that come in that she wants to know if I want to buy. This fabric was the most recent! It's absolute perfection 😍 I haven't seen it in person yet, but am daydreaming of ways to use it at the new house!

I had my post-op just under two weeks after surgery. I was nervous about getting my stitches out, as I always am. I asked Woodchuck ahead of time if he would go into the room with me in case I needed a hand to hold. The nurse took the stitches out right away, and no, Woodchuck did not get out of his seat. He said he didn't want to get in her way, but I am sure she would have accommodated if she knew why. But I survived! The main one didn't want to come out, so that was painful, but I am looking forward now to moving around without them pulling and catching.

On a late trip to town for physical therapy, I got to see sun beams break through clouds. 

And on our way home, I got to see the sun set, and a wonderful sliver of moon. I am grateful to be healing underneath all of this beauty. 

There has been all kinds of funny memes on FB as we hit an arctic freeze that is holding on.

So I am spending a lot of time snuggled in, warm and safe, with my best friend. I do not miss having to go to work at all.

Because right now, my job is to heal well. In person physical therapy twice a week on days like this are difficult for me. If it weren't for Woodchuck, I might even talk myself out of going some days.

We have also found out that Woodchuck himself will be needing surgery. Scheduled for mid-March, I will be just healed enough to be able to handle switching roles. He is having his deviated septum fixed again. It's a bit of a story as to why it didn't work the first time. In fact, he didn't even finish getting out of the healing stage before it was evident that something went wrong (through no fault of the surgeon). I also have another 2-3 other things that I am monitoring for myself, to see if they will need surgery or not. There's been a lot of back and forth about it, medications, braces, exercises, etc. This is the year it needs to happen if I am moving forward with it. But for now, I can rest.

I hope you are all staying safe and warm. 

2026 healing

 Another new year. How lucky are we that we get to see another one? We still have so much left to do in the world as a whole, but also in individual worlds of the people around us. I purposely didn't make resolutions, commitments, set goals. Nothing. No pressure. No looking so far ahead that I can't enjoy the right now. 

As you figured, we spent New Years Eve and Day working. The walls are painted around the shower now, and it is time to move to the next step.

That is right, friends. Caulk. The dreaded task of caulking. Woodchuck is not allowed to caulk, though he did pick this one out. I was nervous about this, I didn't really want to be the one to potentially mess up all of this new stuff! But then I got hyper-focused. It was like being a surgeon, but I was asking for damp and dry paper towels instead of surgery tools, lol. This was one of the nicest caulks I've ever used! I can't take all of the credit, I was asking for guidance from every spirit of every person that has ever worked on this house and knew what they were doing, lol.

Then we got the water handle on, and that took a bit of work since you can't see through the wall to where the screws are supposed go into. So one of us would be on the screw head side in the shower while the other was in the closet with the plumping trying to guide where the screws would go. It worked out!

Then the shower head! The ring around it caused much confusion. Why is it this color and not silver? Is this a covering to protect the metal from getting scratched, and if so, why was nothing else coated in it? The box clearly shows silver. I don't know, and if Woodchuck knew, he was too distracted by other things. So it went on as is.

                                                        Then it was time for the drain cover! 

                                                                    And done!!! Or?????

We have running water!

We turned the water back on, and there was a small leak. My eye is twitching just typing that. It wasn't a big one, but we weren't going to leave it. So, back to Menards and this time Woodchuck decided on using flex line. Which I actually like how it looks better than the PVC we used.

But then the shower head fitting on the plumbing side of the wall also had a leak. So Woodchuck stopped the next day after work and picked up flex line for that and changed it out. As far as I know now, the shower is done, and the boy is using it. HOWEVER, it wasn't until he started using it that we realized the water lines were installed in reverse by the original owners. Woodchuck left it as is. I bowed out of the last couple of trips because our son wasn't feeling well, and I had a lot to get done to prepare for surgery...including not getting sick. I am honestly amazed at the amount of people who don't care they are sick and passing it around! It's me and some of the little old ladies who are wearing masks when we go out in public because everyone is coughing and sneezing without covering them up, running out to get medicine even though they say they have the flu "and my wife and kids had it first". But I digress. I can only control myself, I can only control myself.....

I spent a couple of days getting the Yule decors down and cleaning the house back up from that. I also had to think about being able to move around fairly easily while on crutches, and picked things up and moved things out of the way. We also tried to organize the fridge to have all of my things on the top shelves and at the front, since I can't bend over at the waist. 

I had to go and get fitted for the hip brace I was going to need to wear after surgery. Sizing is approximate, and based off of weight. That put me in a large one, but I'm short, and there was a lot of adjusting that needed to be done to it before it was fitting me even remotely correctly. They also have to set it for the degree of movement the doctor wants you to have after surgery. Mine is set for 30 degrees. It felt so good when we she put it on! Just enough pressure and support to stop my hips from hurting, but I don't get to wear it until they put me in it after surgery. After my appointment, I went grocery shopping, paid bills, and wrapped up as many loose ends as I could.

I am continuing with my smoothies most days, and loving everything about them except that they make me cold at this time of year, lol.

The day before surgery, I went to get a massage and hair cut. This was my first time at this massage place and I loved it! I loved the vibe, music, decor, and the massage therapist herself! I am looking forward to going back after I've healed a bit.

We went to the land after Woodchuck got home from work. I pulled SD cards so that I could look at them while recovering, and we just took in the peace and healing.

I found 6 more oothecas on the watershed.

The water table is SUPER high, and the watershed pond has never come up this high before. If we had not had the South bank of the pond built up, the ponds would have likely merged in this overflow and that would not have been good.

I step foot on this land and all of my pain, physical and otherwise, disappears.

That is the watershed pond in the distance, upper right corner of this photo. While the ground closer to me is always wet, the removal of the phragmite and silky dogwood likely is contributing to more water. I have researched plants that we will plant to replace them all, but we have to make sure this area won't be disturbed again with pond work, and we have to have soil brought in too. 👇

This would have normally stressed me out, but water does what water does, and the addition of soil and lots of native plants will help minimize the flooding.

We found an odd fungi on the watershed path, covered in water droplets.

It was hard to leave, not knowing when I would be back in the same capacity, but the land needs its time to rest as well. It should be thawing out and waking up around the same time that I am healed enough to start moving around, carefully but unhindered by crutches and braces. The stars saw us home.

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to before surgery, but I stack my to-do list unrealistically, never intending to get it all done, but would celebrate nonetheless if it did happen! The morning of surgery was beautiful! I was SO ready, SO peaceful, and SO grateful. It was a full moon week and it saw us off. 

We are rarely in my car at night, and I do nearly all of the driving and have the instrument panel creating light, so we never noticed that my car has internal panel lights, lol.

I feel like my new glasses are too big, lol. Waiting for Woodchuck to come in and sit with me until surgery time! They had me walk into the surgery room, which was WOW. There was so much equipment everywhere! 

Everything went well though, and after throwing up on our way to the pharmacy to pick up the most important medicine that, for some reason, wasn't filled the day prior when we stopped to get my surgery meds, we headed home. I had seen a recipe for a homemade electrolyte beverage and had that made for me to enjoy. I honestly didn't feel much different from it, but it tasted fine.

I started physical therapy the day after surgery, and have my post-op tomorrow. I am hoping they get the stitches out! My skin heals very fast, and they are itching and catching and tight and pulling and burning. But we will see! Form what I told, the surgeon found what he expected, an impingement, but other than that, I don't know much yet. I'm on crutches for 4 weeks, 20% weight bearing on that leg, and also the hip brace. I'm doing therapy twice a week, and also doing those exercises at home twice a day (except for the exercise bike since Woodchuck said it's old and really doesn't have a way to adjust tension). 

I'm working on some gifts for my cousin and they are Christmas themed, so I'm working on them now while I am still in the Winter/Yule mind set. Back to old-school, plastic canvas. This is a sneak peek.

The temps have plunged, and there has been hit or miss precipitation. The perfect time to go within and heal and rest. I am grateful for those days with Father Sun to break up some of the monotone and on the days we have snow, my world is sparkling like glitter. On this day, the sun hit a mirror I have temporarily stored behind the console stereo and you just had to receive the message! There was no turning away. 

With less movement, and being on an Aspirin protocol for 6 weeks, I get chilly faster. It doesn't help that I can only get one sock on by myself, so when Woodchuck is at work, the left leg/foot are always cold. I broke out the chunky wool sweater. Reserved for times such as these, it is the ultimate snuggler.

For the first 2 or 3 days after surgery, I was energized but as time is going on, I'm getting more tired. Most nights I sleep well, but on the nights I don't, it's much harder to push through the next day than usual. The upside is that I'm reading a lot! I'm on my third book since the beginning of the new year, and don't be jealous about that! I had fallen WAY behind and have stacks and stacks (and even a bag full) of books in the closet. It feels good to finally slow down and catch up on the things that I enjoy. Some days are a bit lonely and frustrating at the lack of independence, but all in due time. I have to rest now to make sure I'm ready for what the year is bringing! (and BTW, the book was FANTASTIC! One of the best I've read). I hope you are well, resting when you can, seeing the messages and the gifts of each day. )O(