ouch, ouch, ouch....

Cattle drive on Sunday on Hwy 16

I gotta tell ya, some days it just doesn't feel like I have the effort to chew through the straps! Yesterday, while I was working on some web stuff for Rob, my entire lower right leg evidently fell asleep, without my noticing.  Picture me standing up and whirling around to run to answer my cell phone, which I had, of course, left in another room. Kersplat...down I went with the full force of my body, totally twisting the bejezus out of my ankle.  I swear I saw the entire galaxy of stars as it felt like I did the whole crumble in slow motion.  You know what I mean, it's like you have enough time to go through all the options of how you're going to end up, but in reality, the whole disaster was no doubt occurring in an instant.

Now, it wouldn't have been so very awful if all I did was fall and sprain my ankle, which I did, by the way. I had to hit the rolling file hanger we keep near the computers, as well. So, here I am, lying in a crumpled mess in the office and Thistle comes flying over to me and plops herself snug up against me. She's bound and determined to be as helpful and supportive as possible, this being the first time she's ever heard me moaning in pain, I guess.  She patiently waited while I lay there trying to figure out if I needed to try to crawl the rest of my way to the phone for help or just relax and wait for the waves of pain to subside. I opted for the latter,  after determining that there were no bones sticking out anywhere. So Thistle and I  had a nice little spooning for about 5 minutes, which is about how long it took for the excruciating part of my ankle pain to get down to a level where I felt I could sit up.  Upon sitting, I was rewarded with seeing three great big scrapes on my knees that I musta gotten as I fell on the cork floor.  That cork is not so yielding as I thought.

I wrapped up my ankle after determining that it was indeed just a sprain.  You know, I'm an expert on ankles, having broken and sprained them more times than I care to think about over the years. Once, in high school, I was coming around the side of the building of the school, in tennis shoes, and turned out both ankles somehow, breaking one and fracturing the other! Another time with Rob, I was expressing my exuberance as we were walking across a street and I jumped up to do a "whoopee" and came crashing down and breaking ankles right in the middle of the street.  Yes, I'm a klutz, but I'm a darn good one, I don't do things half way!

None of this deterred me from getting most of my stuff done for the day, though.  I had to stop in at the Moose to see who had not picked up their auction items and run by the bank to hit up our safe deposit box for papers we need for our retired military I.D. we are getting this week.  The ankle was letting me know it was injured, but it wasn't that bad.  Having had all kinds of problems with my ankles before, I've also gotten quite proficient at driving with my left foot, does that make me ambi-ped-dextrous?

Anyway, so I got through the day just fine and it wasn't until Rob and I were sitting around last evening that everything started really hurting again. For some reason, my right hip was very uncomfortable, but I kinda blew it off.  You know, as we age, things just hurt, so I paid it no particular mind.  When we went to bed last night, though, I had to stay off that hip, as it was a little painful.

Well, I woke up this morning to what felt like a heartbeat in my hip, folks!  I'm talking that thump, thump of pain and pressure that usually indicates something really wrong.  So I slowly walked/limped in front of my big mirror and lo and behold,  I have about a dessert plate size bruise right at the top of my thigh.  I think it will make some pretty colors real soon.  I'm having a little difficulty even sitting on that side of my body this morning.  Once Rob got up, he came and inspected the area and sees a huge area that is all swollen and like I said, turning a lovely shade of purple.Guess who won't be wearing shorts for the rest of this week? I don't think I did any real damage, though, it feels like it's just one of those really deep bruises and I don't have a lot of meat right there.

Just one of my cherry bushes, they are loaded this year!!

So, I'm going to take it easy today, for real.  I think this looks like a day to maybe pick all those Nanking cherries that are ready all over the yard and start planning my jelly making. At least, if I'm doing that, I'm standing pretty still so my ankle shouldn't pound too much and I won't be sitting on my hip.

Hope you are having a better day than me.  Life is funny sometimes, it can sure tell you when to slow down, right??

helping neighbors....

Peggy and Sherry at Peg's benefit

There is no better feeling in the world, as far as I’m concerned, as the one you get helping someone else.  I have learned over the years that the best way to make yourself feel better is to make someone else feel better.

Sherry and I managed to pull off Peggy’s benefit fantastically, if I do say so myself. We had a blast together doing it, too.  Thursday, we were flying all over Sheridan, getting the last minute stuff and I think there was a special bounce in our steps, knowing that we were actually doing something worthwhile.  Sure, we were tired as heck, we’ve been working on this for a month, but every time one of us would start complaining, we’d remind each other that we weren’t the ones who’ve been dealing with constant pain and extreme financial uncertainty for months and months and this would end for us in a day or two but not for Peg.

I really gotta hand it to Sherry.  She has a lot of her own difficulties to deal with, she lost her dad this year and had to convince her mom to move into town from the ranch she’d lived in for 60 years. That may not sound like a lot, but there’s so much involved in all that. She’s been through a whole lot lately but she was the one who came up with the whole idea of the benefit for Peggy. For the past month, she’s been working all night at the Senior Center and then getting up bright and early and going out and getting donations every day of the week.  Just like everyone else in this economy, she’s been struggling herself,  but she put it all aside to help her best friend, Peg. Sherry is one of those people that would give her last ounce of energy, if need be. She’s been by my side helping me through my nightmares for 14 years and I don’t know what I’d do without her. I think Peggy is pretty humbled and impressed with her right now, too!

We went down Friday during happy hour and set up all the silent auction items in the back room of the Moose.  Sherry had gotten some festive tablecloths and it really put the icing on the cake for the presentation of the items.  We ended up with about 50 items for the bidding, exceeding even our expectations! After we got all the stuff laid out all pretty and the bidding sheets lined up next to every item, the folks who were there partying for happy hour asked if it was okay if they could go ahead and start the bidding! Heck, yes!  Before we left, we already had some items that had $100 bids on them!  Talk about taking the pressure off! We also had several people there who pressed money into our hands for Peg because they weren’t going to be able to join in the festivities on Saturday!

Saturday, we got there about two hours before the benefit was to start and brought all our salads we made.  Sherry brought a fabulous tropical fruit salad with yogurt and two huge pans of brownies and cookies that she and her niece, Shelby had made.  I brought a pasta salad, several veggie trays and a big ole bowl of fresh watermelon.  Ladies started streaming in with other wonderful stuff and before we knew it, it was time for Sherry to go round up all the donated chicken.  She picked up chicken from DJ’s, Duffy’s Bluff and the Dash Inn and boy, did that make the Moose smell good!

Melody played her heart out for us!!

Melody Larsen (Donahue) was the star attraction, though.  Boy, can that woman sing and play an acoustic guitar!  She volunteered her time and made the benefit really special and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay her. She has an amazing voice and a great variety of music she plays. She also was our announcer for the 50/50 raffle and for the winners of the auction items, tirelessly staying until the end, even offering to help clean up, which we didn’t let her do. I imagine she had enough work to do the next day, clearing out her equipment! There’s a special place in Heaven set aside for that girl, let me tell ya!

The whole thing went just awesomely!  Lots of people showed up and we even had a few bidding wars on some of the items. Peggy and John came around 3 p.m. and everyone was just so happy to see Peggy out and about for once.  Peggy, of course, spent most of the day weeping on someone’s shoulder. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring by her friends. Word of mouth had spread to her friends in Story and Sheridan so there was a huge crowd there all day. Everyone had their fill of food and we even had leftover chicken and salads to send home with Peg and John.

The 50/50 was a hit.  I was selling them for $1 a piece or an arm’s length for $10 and I don’t think there was a single soul that didn’t get an arm’s length. I was having fun with the measurement (only one wins, right?) and really giving everyone a lot of tickets. Terry Ahern ended up winning the other half of the pot but as she said, she donated it right back because she also bid on a lot of the auction items.

All in all, I think we raised over $3,000 for Peg on Saturday.  I’m still not sure of the exact total because there’s a few people who won items that had already left and I have to go retrieve that money today. We made sure that Peggy didn’t leave the bar empty handed, though, giving her the cash from the 50/50 and the cash donations from dinner before she left. She was really having a hard time accepting all this from everyone and asking us how she was going to “repay” us.  Silly girl….I told her to just say thank you and move on.  Things like this only happen once in a blue moon and we know she’d be right there for us if we needed her so….just say thank you, get your life straightened out financially and get to healing!

Speaking of the generosity of this fine town, the fires are pretty much put out that are closest to us. The Cato fire is still being fought but it’s mostly in the mop up stages, with a few flares still trying to wreak havoc out by Clearmont.  The Otter Creek fire on the other side of the mountain outside Tensleep is finally getting under control, too. Last week, everyone here was donating supplies for the firefighters and it got so that they had to tell us to stop, they were getting overwhelmed! The last few truck loads ended up going up to Montana and over to Tensleep to help those firefighters.  There was even enough donated vitamin water and other non-perishable supplies that our firefighters have a reserve that’s been placed at the firehall in the event that we have another catastrophe. Yep, we take care of our own around here! Remember, too, folks, there’s only about 4,500 of us here in Buffalo, but when there’s a crisis, you’d think we were 45,000. Unfortunately, there’s a new fire down by Wheatland, right near where my dog breeder lives that’s getting out of control, too. I hear they have mandatory evacuations going on as of last night.  Gosh, this is going to be a nightmare of a summer, I fear.

We are already under a total fire ban, as of today, both in Johnson County and up on State/ BLM land.  Folks, that means if you are a smoker, you are not to be even smoking outside your car or with the windows rolled down! Please be careful, too, if you pull off to watch wildlife on the side of the road.  The grass is so dry, the heat from your car can ignite a fire if it touches the undercarriage. As of last night, Ucross Foundation has cancelled the fireworks show, too. I hear the Big Horn Equestrian Center in Sheridan is going ahead with theirs, I hope that’s not a foolish decision. And, I’m telling you right now, if I’m driving around and I see someone lighting off fireworks, I WILL call the cops. We’re in such a dangerous situation right now and I don’t think someone’s need for pretty sparkly stuff is worth the risk. Wait til next year, when it’s hopefully not so dangerous. I know I don’t want to be the idiot responsible for burning down the mountain or the town over a few fireworks, do you?

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week.  We all need to be extra nice to each other right now. The heat is taking it’s toll on the whole country, but that doesn’t mean we can’t greet each other with an encouraging smile…..

fire madness....

View of the Cato fire

I woke up to burning in my throat and my eyes watering something fierce.  Thistle and I stepped outside for our morning “constitutional” and the air is just horridly thick with smoke here in town.  As soon as I sat down to my computer, I logged onto the Weather Service out of Riverton and found out that the Cato fire, which is just 13 miles north of town toward Ucross, had exploded to over 20,000 acres overnight. The winds last night were just horrendous and I imagine the fires spread with their help.

This is mind-numbing, folks.  I have friends out there who have ranches and I pray they are okay. Yesterday, the last I heard from one family, they were digging trenches around their property to try to save it and the scanner was so busy with volunteer firefighters shouting what they were doing to try to contain things, it was almost too much to bear to listen. Right now the scanner is eerily quiet and I don’t know what that means. At least the winds seem to have died down for the moment and according to the forecast will not get crazy like they were for the past few days.

There’s also another fire south of Tensleep that is over 500 acres and word just came down of a fire near Cooke City, MT.  Lordy, this is shaping up to being a terrifying summer already. As far as I know, we have no rain in the forecast, either. It’s just so sad.

On to happier news, though.  Yesterday, Sherry and I got together and went to the new Clear Creek Cantina for lunch.  We were very pleasantly surprised that the food was pretty darn good.  The menu was hilarious, I wish I could remember all the cool names they had for stuff, but whoever came up with them has a great imagination.  We only ordered appetizers this first time, choosing the “Nemo Nachos” and some fried pickles for our first adventure there. The nachos were awesome, seafood nachos with a great cheese sauce I haven’t tasted since I left Texas. They have quite an extensive menu and even have things that my Mexican food hating husband might enjoy. The Cantina says that it serves Tex-Mex and I think they may be right!  I’ll report back when I’ve sampled more of the menu.  They also completely redid the inside of the place, sprucing it up nicely.  The only bad thing I can say so far is that they haven’t got their delivery down yet, they seemed a bit ruffled and slow on service. But, they just opened a few days ago, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Sherry and I are all set for the benefit for Peg, I do believe.  I got a few more donations yesterday, including a beautiful piece of stained glass art donated by my friend Debbie, that I might just have to bid on myself! Now, we just have to get everything down to the Moose and set up Friday evening and we’ll be all set for Saturday.  From the buzz around town, sounds like we’re going to have a decent turnout, fingers crossed! I have to go pick up two more donations today and I think I’ll be pretty much done.

This afternoon, we have our second “Cash Mob” happening down at the Treasure Chest downtown from 4-6.  The last one was such a success and I’m hoping this one is, too. The Treasure Chest is an antique store and I’m sure I can find something to purchase there this evening to help them along.

Well, I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time indoors in the A/C today, trying to stay out of this smoke.  My thoughts will be with my neighbors out on the prairie and with those firefighters who are risking their lives in this horrible heat to save our precious land and livestock. Please keep everyone out West in your thoughts.  There are fires burning everywhere, it seems.

Mother Nature can be mean....

My gazanias are so pretty already!

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could take tropical storm Debby, grab it by the tail and drag it over to the fires in the West.  That sure would solve a lot of problems, wouldn’t it? So many people are having difficulties caused by different kinds of weather right now, you really wish there was some sort of magical solution sometime. It breaks my heart to turn on the news in the evening and see the folks down in Colorado and now, even in my own state, being ravaged by fire. Having cable TV, Denver is my “local” news, and I’ve had a front row seat to all the loss.

All the technology we have now and we still can’t save ourselves from Mother Nature. You know she’s gonna win in the end, don’t you? The best we can do is be prepared for whatever particular natural disaster each of our areas is prone to, but being human, we rarely think that far ahead.  It always reminds me that we are the only species on the planet that doesn’t seem to know the rules of Nature’s games.

It got up over 100 degrees here in Buffalo yesterday, and that’s very worrisome for this time of year.  Rob and I were up on the mountain this weekend and the snowpack is already looking pretty pitiful and the forest floor is getting really dry.  I sure hope this isn’t the year the Big Horns gets trimmed with fire. While we haven’t had the absolute devastation of pine beetle infestation that Colorado has had, we have been hit pretty hard, too.  There’s whole areas of dead trees everywhere, just waiting for a careless camper or a lightening strike to start off a major fire. That makes those prayers for rain a double edged sword, since they are frequently joined by cracks of lightening that could potentially start the very problem we are trying to alleviate with the rain.

I spent pretty much all day indoors yesterday. I’m one of those people that doesn’t really sweat, weird, I know.  It’s been a problem all my life. Oh sure, I get the little beads around my lips and a few drops on my forehead, but for the most part I just get really overheated and red in the face. I can’t get cooled down without submerging myself in cold water.  Heat makes me positively ill, sick to my stomach, even.  I went to a therapist a few years ago who had me using a FAR Infrared sauna to try to teach my body to sweat. I even bought a portable one to continue the treatments myself.  But, evidently, I just don’t have that capability to sweat very much and that’s dangerous when it gets this hot. So, I stay inside a lot when it gets near 100, unless I’m out where I can dunk myself in water, like the swimming pool or the lake.

Thistle didn’t seem to mind too much yesterday, though.  We had a grand time playing inside the house.  We have several “games”, which of course, I don’t quite understand the rules for, but she does…the one we were playing yesterday required me to chase her back and forth in my dressing room.  I’m so glad we built that dressing room when we put in the addition!  Jason, the contractor, laughed at me when I asked him to finish it in, saying I was going to have a very odd “closet”,  it’s 28 feet long and about 8-10 feet wide.  But, it’s great for running up and down with the dog! Not to mention we were able to take all the dressers and such out of our bedroom and put them in there.  Thistle thinks it’s her play run and every morning, when I’m getting dressed, we have a wild time in there. She can get quite a head of steam going, running back and forth in there.

Our monster closet & Thistle's play run area

Thistle is in the throes of heat and we’re stuck finding imaginative things to do around the house. I can’t take the chance of taking her for a walk and having a stray male dog find her inviting right now. I’ve got another 2-3 weeks before this is over and I can take her to the vet to get spayed. So, we’re spending our time playing in the backyard and inside for now. She’s a little upset that we haven’t gone anywhere, although we did take her up on the mountain with us this past weekend and got a nice walk in up there.  If I have time, I may try to do that today.  It will surely be cooler up there, anyway. I just have to be sure to go where there are no chances of running into other dogs, right?

Well, I’ve droned on long enough, I guess.  I hope that wherever you are, the weather is cooperating and you aren’t burning or drowning!  We’ll all make it through whatever Mother Nature has to dish out and we’ll be stronger for it. Just keep your wits about you and remember that others are having difficulties, too.  Be compassionate with your fellow earthlings! Love & Light!

monday, again???

Rob and Mr Moose

Morning, Folks! Dang it, when the calendar says summer, we sure get to summer, don’t we? Rob and I just spent half the weekend out in the garden getting the last of the darn weeds out of the veggie garden and it was HOT!  The weatherman had said it was going to get up to 100 yesterday and thankfully it only got up to 98, according to my thermometer.  That was quite warm enough, thank you!

We had a wonderful weekend, though.  We decided to go up into the mountains on Saturday morning to try to get a few pictures before the spring wildflowers disappeared and were rewarded with a few glimpses of a couple of really nice bull moose. We were really quite surprised that we even spotted them because the mountain is already getting overcrowded (in our opinion) with campers and four wheelers.  One of the moose we found was no more than 200 yards from a rather large contingent of campers and I don’t think they even knew the big guy was there.  In Rob’s usual fashion, he patiently zigged and zagged his way to the moose until he was nice and close to take some pretty awesome pictures.  Mr. Moose seemed to be very intent on eating a rather juicy crop of willows and was a lovely subject for the morning.

I couldn’t believe how warm it was up there, too. Usually, it’s at least 20 degrees cooler up on the mountain, but this weekend it didn’t really feel all that cool up there. I don’t think the wildflowers are going to do much this year with all the crazy weather we have had.  Sure, there’s flowers up there, but not the gorgeous blossoming we’ve had in past years.

After photographing moose for a bit, we came back down into town for the Living History Days celebration down at the Gatchell Museum.  That’s always a lot of fun.  They have all kinds of 1800’s everyday life things set up, like a blacksmith and ladies with their spinning wheels and such.  The real reason Rob likes to go is that the Basque Club sells lukainka sausage at the festival. After he ate several of them, we headed back to the house though, because the heat was just getting darn right oppressive. I felt sorry for the folks that were there dressed in wool outfits and those heavy, long prairie dresses!

On Sunday, we arose early to try to beat the heat and get the last of those darn weeds out of the garden. I’m happy to report that we are now weed free for the moment!  All we have left to do is put down the last of the fabric in the garden to prevent weeds from returning and we can sit back and wait for the fruits of our labor to arrive.  So far, the only harvest we’ve got is radishes and kale but I have a feeling things will start producing quickly with this heat.  I have a whole cornucopia of salad stuff growing on my deck and we’ve been having nice fresh salad fixing for weeks now, yum! I planted butter lettuce in one of my pots back in the spring and I’m so glad I did, it’s just awesome.  Of course, I always have arugula going year round, either indoors or out, since no one in Wyoming seems to know what the heck that’s used for and puts it in little tiny containers to sell in the stores.  I eat the heck outta that stuff, putting it in salads, on my sammies, you name it, I just adore arugula.

Sherry and I are all ready for Peg’s benefit, which is this coming Saturday now!  We’ve been all over town, gotten lots of great donations and will be spending this week getting everything catalogued and ready for the silent auction.  I sure hope we get a nice turnout for her so we can help her with her living expenses. She’s off to Billings again today to see if she can have that final drain removed.  I sure hope she’s feeling well enough to come to the benefit herself. I think it would do her good to see how many people care about her. I have been overwhelmed and so happy myself at the generosity of the folks around here in donating items. I hear that she’s even been getting money donations in the mail from folks that won’t be able to make the benefit on Saturday.  Makes me proud to live here, I tell you!

Well, get out there and show Monday what you are made of! Have a fabulous week and make someone smile!

there's heat and there's Heat.....

The wildflowers are starting to get gorgeous!

I totally hit the ground running yesterday and it felt so good to feel better! I may have overdone it a tad, however.  You know how it is when you’ve been sick and languishing around the house for days, right?  When you finally start feeling well, you just want to go full throttle and get back up to speed!

My friend, Ginnie, stopped by to have a wrestling match with Thistle. No, really, she hadn’t been by in ages and Thistle was so excited that she just couldn’t control herself.  We had to keep throwing her into time-out because she just wouldn’t calm down.  No amount of cookies could keep all four paws on the floor, the little beast. Of course, she finally calmed down about the time Gin got ready to leave. It’s weird, she seems to do just fine with lots of people around, it’s when there’s only one person to focus on that she has a problem.

I got the rest of Buffalo pretty much papered in flyers for Peg’s benefit and picked up several more donations for the silent auction, in between the raindrops. Sagewood gave us a lovely gift basket with all kinds of goodies in it, including a lunch certificate, that should go over well.  Crazy Woman Liquors donated four bottles of wine, which Rob says he wants to bid on. I’m going to arrange them in a nice little wine rack, if I can find one.  Sherry called and left me a message that Aaron from Sheridan Media is going to do a story about the benefit, too! We’re cooking with gas, now! I also noticed that the Buffalo Bulletin put a nice little blurb in the paper about it.

Late yesterday, I figured out why Thistle has been getting more and more unruly over the past few days.  It appears she is finally going into her first heat.  I actually had to look it up on the internet to figure out what was going on because I’ve never let a dog do that before.  I’ve always gotten my dogs spayed at 6 months, regardless.  Leslie, my breeder, had suggested that we wait until she went through her first heat cycle before spaying her, though.  I have a feeling that we are in for a wild ride for the next 3-5 weeks.  I’m going to have to call the vet and find out exactly when I can schedule her for her spaying now.  I’m pretty much prepared for it, got her some cute little pants to wear and everything. What I’m not prepared for is her out of control behavior.  The stuff I read on the web kinda scared me. It was talking about never leaving her alone in the backyard and watching for male dogs trying to jump the fence. Oh boy! Just one more thing to make life exciting.  I’m sure we’ll all survive but Thistle’s little personality sure is changing for the moment. 

The weather is so much nicer today for the first full day of summer! Yesterday, it felt like fall around here, windy and rainy and I don’t think it got over 65 degrees.  Today, when I got up, it was already nice and warm and we’re expecting highs in the 80’s! Rob said it’s supposed to get to the high 90’s by Sunday! That will be awesome as we have Living History Days downtown this weekend.  It’s also the city wide garage sale weekend, although I really don’t participate in that.  I need to be getting rid of junk, not buying more. I still have to have a garage sale of my own but I like to wait until fall when there are fewer going on.

Today is going to be all about cleaning the house, I think.  Amazing how messy two people can make a house in a few days.  Of course, the worst thing is the dog hair everywhere at the moment.  Goldens have a big shed time right about this time of year and Thistle is no exception. I had been brushing her daily before I fell ill and still wasn’t keeping up with all the shed. One of the smartest things we did, though, was get rid of all our carpet and put in hardwood floors. It sure makes it easier to get up the hair!

I’ve also got Rebekka’s son, Colby, coming over to help with weeding in the garden today. He’s only 11 and quite the little entrepreneur.  When they were here for the bbq this past weekend, he was negotiating with me for odd jobs around the yard.  I admire that in a kid and so, today, I’ll get him out there and show him what needs to be done.  He’s so cute, though, at first he offered to weed the whole garden for $5.  That is way, way too cheap and I’m not going to take advantage of his lack of knowledge. 

Well, folks, I hope you have a fabulous day!  Get out there and enjoy this first whole day of summer.  I can’t believe the days are going to start getting shorter already.

“Laughter is the healer of all ills. Smiling is the balm that soothes and settles. Both are the medicine that sustains a life of joy. Laugh in the face of problems. Laugh in the path of insurmountable odds. Guffaw in the depths of the valleys, and celebrate with wide beams of sunshine streaming from your mouth when standing on the mountaintops.

Learn to laugh at yourself. Laugh when you triumph, and laugh when you trip. But don't laugh at the expense of others. Share jokes that lift. Watch comedies that lighten the load. See the funny side, and search for it if you have to, to discover another reason to always laugh.”~Dumb Little Man

sleeping my life away...

My favorite view of the mountains from I-90, coming into Buffalo

Gratefulness can sometimes be measured in very small things.  Today, I’m grateful that my stomach is no longer playing midnight sonatas to the rest of my organs, allowing us all to believe that whatever evil virus I contracted over the weekend has finally bid me goodbye! It has left me still a little weak and shaky, probably from lack of food, but I do believe the worst is over.

I think I slept more in the last few days than I have in weeks! I managed to stay up for a little while yesterday before Rob left for work, but as soon as he was gone, my recliner once again became my refuge.  Yesterday seemed to be all about sleeping and healing. I spent most of the day, wrapped up once again in my big moose blanket, dressed in sweats, reading some of my favorite Reiki books and thanking my lucky stars that I was on the tail end of this yuckiness.

Thistle’s been very understanding about the whole situation, which has been mildly surprising. She found lots of things to amuse herself with in the backyard over the last few days, coming in to show me, on occasion, what she’s found. Luckily, the biggest thing she found was too big for her to bring in the house.  We still can’t figure out where she found a rather large strip of deck siding, you know the lattice work stuff?  It’s about four feet long and a foot wide and has suddenly appeared in our back yard. Rob saw her with it on Monday and took it away from her, stashing it under our deck. There’s no way she can get under there, we have hinges so that we can get under there to get to things but long ago put rocks at all the openings so she can’t get through there.  So, yesterday, he gets home and she’s got another one! We checked under the deck to see if it was the same piece and nope, it wasn’t! That piece was still lying right where Rob chucked it.  We’re really scratching our heads over this now.

Granted, we’ve had some pretty wild winds over the last few days, but I just can’t see pieces of lattice work flying through the air and landing in our backyard.  We have a rather large piece of property and only share boundaries with one neighbor, our other boundary being a street. Take into consideration that most of our property is also surrounded by a 12 foot lilac bush hedge and you’ll understand why I’m a little puzzled.

Thistle patiently waiting for me to feel better so we can play

Anyway, Thistle’s been keeping herself amused and for the most part, staying out of trouble. Rob was such a sweetheart at lunchtime yesterday and stopped and got me a mango smoothie. I’m still not trusting my stomach enough for solid food.  He rewarded himself for his good deed by also picking himself up some hot dogs.  The smell of them almost sent me over the edge again but I was so grateful for the smoothie that I didn’t complain.

Today is going to be a much better day, I can feel it already!  Coffee even smells good again. The weather, however, is looking a bit ominous outside. It’s very dark and cloudy over the mountains and feels like we may be in for a storm. You can feel the thickness in the air, like a heavy, wet blanket.  We certainly need the moisture here, so I’m not going to complain.  It seems like a lot of the states around us and some of our own state’s forests are burning because of the high winds and dryness we’ve had, so if we get rain, perhaps it’ll save some trees.

Today, I’ll get back to putting up flyers and visiting businesses to get some more auction items for Peg’s benefit.  On Monday, Sherry took Peg to Billings for her follow-up appointment and they at least got some good news.  There’s no more infection in the areas where the drains were so they were able to take out one of the drains and also finally remove her staples.  They are going to leave in the other drain until they see her again next week because it is still producing a little. But, Lordy, she’s got to feel better with those staples out! They’ve been in her upper legs for over a month now.  Please keep my friend in your thoughts and prayers, she’s been through a lot, the poor dear.  We’re hoping that she’ll feel up to coming to the benefit herself by the end of the month.

Beginning to look like summer on the porch!

Well, folks, I hope you have an awesome day! Tomorrow is the first day of summer!! Life is amazing and so are you!