bacon flowers....

Mr Turkey hanging out in the tree out of the deep snow

Well, my first day back among the walking sure was busy and a lot of fun, let me tell you! I started off by going to get my twice weekly tan, which I told you is to keep my skin problem under control.  It was so nice to crawl into the tanning bed and feel the warmth, as it’s been pretty cold around here.  Kris, the owner of the salon, was real surprised to see me up and about so quickly.

After I left there, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a little pot of flowers for my friend, Bobbie, who had the retinal surgery, as I was headed to visit her.  While I was in there, I remembered that she is a bacon freak and that we always are joking about that. So, I picked her up some bacon to go along with her flowers!  I was really looking for the pre-cooked kind so I could make a bouquet out of that, too, but alas, Buffalo is still lacking in some things and I had to settle for raw bacon.  The clerk at the check-out got a real kick out of the whole idea. She laughingly told me she wished SHE had friends who brought her post surgical bacon!

With my bacon and pretty little sunshine yellow mums in hand, off I went to see Bobbie. Now, I think I told you that she has four dogs and that we walk together on occasion.  Since the last time I’d seen her, Bobbie acquired another sweet little dog, however.  She’s now up to five dogs running around and it’s a hoot!  The new pup’s name is Ruby Tuesday and she is a sweetheart! I got quite a greeting from the pack when I arrived and Ruby decided that we were friends right away.  She spent a lot of the time I was visiting, sitting on my lap, sniffing me all over and giving me short approving licks.  I think she’s really going to like Thistle. Bobbie says she’s really added life to the pack of dogs in the house.  She was definitely egging on the other dogs to play, that’s for sure.

Bobbie loved the bacon, of course, and went so far as to post about it on facebook. Yes, we’re different, aren’t we?  We had a grand old time talking and comparing notes on our surgeries and post-op trials and tribulations. Poor Bobbie had to ride home in not so great weather from Billings after her surgery.  She looks really cute with her big silver metal patch on her eye. She’s had 7 surgeries on that eye now and we are all hoping and praying that this is the last one.  I told her we need to decorate the patch with something fun (I’m still working on that one, folks).

My car under the snow!

After I left Bobbie, I met Rob for lunch at Sagewood Café and Gifts on Main.  Sagewood is an awesome little gift boutique here in Buffalo with a little restaurant in the back. They serve fabulous homemade soups daily along with great sandwiches.  Nothing they make is fried, which I really like. It just so happened that they had one of our favorite soups yesterday, Italian Wedding soup. I swear I could live off that stuff, if you’ve never tried it, you don’t know what you are missing.  They also had a really nice quiche as a special which I had as an addition to my soup. Rob had some wonderful Chicken Alfredo Bake with his soup.  It seemed like half the town was there with us and of course, we had to discuss my surgery with at least 5 people. That’s what I absolutely adore about this town.  There is no place I go that I don’t know at least half the people in the room at any given establishment.  This sounds awesome, right?  It is, unless you are at the grocery store and need to do a quick “in and out”…there’s no such thing here! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told Rob I’d “be right back, just going to the store” only to return an hour later because I’d run into several people I hadn’t seen in a while in the grocery store and world problem-solving ensued.  I wouldn’t have it any other way, though.  When we lived back East among the throngs of humanity, I have never felt so alone, I swear.  People walk by you like you’re a piece of furniture and no one makes eye contact with each other. I remember one of the first times we went back for a visit to Westminster, MD. I hadn’t realized how acclimated I was to holding doors, making small talk with folks, making eye contact when passing….and how unusual that is in the crowded cities. I think I was making people nervous! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to spend too much time in that world anymore and I know I’m not missing anything for the lack!

After lunch, I went home and played with Ms Thistle for a bit. Gosh, she just thrives in that snow! She was tearing around like a freak in the backyard. The snow is still really deep from that last storm and we have a lot of really big drifts in the yard that she was busting through with abandon. She likes to use her nose as a snowplow and it’s hilarious to watch. By the time she’s tuckered out, she looks like the abominable snowman, covered in lumps of snow!

I stopped in to see Breean, the new planner’s wife after playing with Thistle (who came along in the car, just because she likes to ride) and brought her kids some fun little toys to play with. I found this really cool coloring book that comes with 3-D glasses!  You have a black piece of paper and when you rub it with the different pens, images appear and they look 3-D with the glasses.  I got that for Wyatt. For Wylie, I got a little cardboard jewelry container that had all kinds of stickers and glittery stuff to decorate to make it your own custom model. Wylie and I decided to decorate ourselves almost as much with the little adhesive stones and glitter as put on the container.  The kids seem to be acclimating to the new digs well. I have to tell you, or perhaps I did already, that I just love playing with kid’s stuff. I guess I just never grew up, nor do I particularly want to.  I see nothing wrong with playing and continuing to use my imagination.  Kids these days are so used to being “entertained” by computer games and I make it a point to bring children some of the “old” stuff that requires a little thought process to play with.

The last big errand of the day was taking Thistle to have her stitches removed at the vet.  I thought for sure she’d be all freaky when we pulled up at the vet’s after her big surgery.  Nope, she went barreling into the office, firmly planting her feet up on the counter to greet the staff! She was a very good girl while Teresa, the Vet, removed the numerous stitches. I stayed up at the head end of her and distracted her while Teresa and her tech removed them. Teresa said she is always in a conundrum about the amount of stitches for this particular procedure.  She wants enough that nothing splits open but knows it will be a bear to remove them.  When we were done, there was a whole big pile of stitch pieces and Thistle was none the worse for wear. She got some really nice treats for being such a good girl.

Clear Creek!

Well, we made it to Friday once again. What a crazy week it has been!  I am so looking forward to our happy hour with friends tonight!  I’m thinking we’ll have quite a crowd. Rob and I have to really behave, though, as we have that Art Show in Sheridan tomorrow. We have to get up at the crack of dawn to pack the vehicles, get our butts to Sheridan and get some breakfast, all before set up at 7:30 a.m.  Keep your fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and we aren’t driving in a blizzard, as we usually do for this show.  Right now, they are predicting snow showers through the night tonight and another 40% chance tomorrow. The winds are not supposed to be bad, however.  Unfortunately, with our mountains, you never really know what it’s gonna do until you see it happening! If the weather is bad, we’ll have to leave town even earlier so we can drive slow out on the highway.  There’s a pass that is rather elevated between Sheridan and Johnson County that can get quite treacherous and it’s close to Lake DeSmet, which has it’s own little weather pattern.

Okay, time to get moving and see what Friday has in store for the old gal. I probably won’t be writing tomorrow because of all the show packing.  If I don’t speak with you, have a wonderful weekend. Go out and find something fun to do with your friends and family and leave the cares of the world behind for a few hours.

The house looks so peaceful with all the snow!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
~Mother Teresa