Disorganized

I keep first aid supplies scattered throughout the house. Some in the basement in case of injury while sheltering from a tornado, a kit in an emergency bag in case of evacuation by the door and some in a drawer near the bathroom. The trouble arises when I need an item but don't remember where it is. 

In this case, I want to find a finger splint I picked up at a dollar store. I have a cut knuckle that keeps opening and isn't healing. If I could immobilize it, I think it would do better. 

Which means I need to add sorting out the first aid materials to my list of projects. It's always something!

Dreaming of being bionic

My ankle is messed up...again. And, while keeping my foot elevated with an ice pack doesn't sound so bad for the hot weather that's heading my way, hobbling around the house in pain is something I would happily miss.

It reminds me of the bionic man show. About all I really recall is the cool sound when he was running, but imagine not having pain or repeating injuries. Bliss.

I shuffled out and did chores before it gets too hot. Fresh water for the chickens and a good soaking in the potato bed. Now I just have to make my way down to the basement to turn off the water again. (Cue bionic sound effects)

On camera

I've set up cameras in my coop. It's fun checking on them at random times. I've noticed there are almost always a few (up to ten) sparrows inside helping themselves to a snack. The chickens don't seem to care.

I have four indoor cats. I noticed one of the kittens will never scratch on a post or that curved scratcher in the photo. To save my rugs and carpet I ordered some flat scratchers and it worked! He loves them and the other cats join in. 

Panting

Too, too hot. Not even cooling off enough at night to warrent opening the windows. I don't know how my sister in Texas stands it when their heat index hits 120. 

I have to be extra careful to keep up with the chicken water because...

Hens doing what they really, really want.

Dad doesn't seem to notice.

It's all good.

The brain struggles

A couple weeks ago I bought a box of oxyclean for the laundry. I remember picking it up with one hand from the trunk and noticing how light it was (shrinkflation). And then it disappeared. 

When I started looking for it, I assumed I got distracted and set it down in a random place. I checked the garage, porch and basement. Then I checked them again. And again. 

Today I was in the basement for another issue, and found myself scanning for the blue box. Wondering why I didn't just put it on top of the washing machine and save all this bother, I finally focused on the clear plastic bag of oxyclean powder sitting right where it should. Why couldn't I see it before? Because I had already taken it out of the box to recycle cardboard, but I wasn't looking for a bag.

Unbelievable.

Living large

Made this homemade pizza tonight on lavash bread. Fast, easy, and yummy. My kind of cooking. Couldn't even tell the cheese was fat free.

I've been looking for a thin crust pizza in individual sizes without luck. Now I know half of this is plenty, I can just cut the bread down and make as much as needed. 

Oh dear

Just read a news story where a deck collapsed under 15 people at 4 a.m. last night. All I can think is if you have that many people on your deck at 4 in the morning, your neighbors hate you.

It's another windy and rainy day here. We were desperate for rain, so can't complain. Second batch of chicks will be hatching this week. Yay!

Last night I finished painting my son's kitchen. So nice to have it done, but the up and down a ladder is hard on my old joints. It was obvious the stove had never been cleaned before he moved in and it was a sticky mess when pulled out. He sent a picture later that night after using some heavy duty degreaser. Much better.

Planning a quiet day at home to rest up.

Thoughts and things

The siren test happens around noon on Fridays here. It's sounding right now. My first reaction is always "The Germans are coming!" because I've watched a lot of WWII movies. Probably should change that to the Russians.

Chicks began hatching yesterday, day 20 in the incubator. Seven out and more working on it today. Usually they start earlier than that so I thought it was going to be a small hatch rate. I still think I'll hatch out a second batch because food prices aren't likely to improve. 

Poor Gru, my wild turkey, all puffed up and gobbling, but no ladies to admire him in his spring finery.

It's still cold for the end of April, about a month behind. The lilac leaf buds are just starting. 

Making do

I struggle to keep some houseplants alive. Part of the problem is chronic low humidity. Even right next to a humidifier, it's a fight to reach 40% in the winter. While I would love a dedicated plant cabinet, watching them thrive here at all is wonderful.

Painting again

It's been months since I started helping my son paint his apartment. You know those shows where some idiot goes exploring in abandoned mental hospitals? That's what his walls looked like; grubby, stained, dented and abused from years of people not caring.

Every time our schedules meshed, the weather beat us back down. Until last night! The little bit of snow and rain didn't stop me and we got the living room painted. Clean walls with bright color! That gave me a good feeling of accomplishment.

Winter, winter, winter...summer!

The last two days were in the 80s! How insane to go from lots of snowdrifts to summer heat overnight. I've been moving the wood pile under cover so it can dry out even if we get rain this weekend. Also, contacted my firewood guy so he will be ready when the ground isn't so mushy. Moving stuff is a bigger event as I get older, back and hip pain.

The incubator is loaded with eggs and I've been seeing baby calves in the pastures. Fun times.

Elbow update

 Most of the pain is gone. Yay! Suspect it was something tendon related, not arthritis.

Summary: two days of serious pain and restricted mobility. Two days of moderate pain. Yesterday was strong aching but mobility almost normal. Today just a dull ache.

Still avoiding heavy lifting with that arm for a few more days to be sure it doesn't regress.

More good news: Time for warmer weather! Yesterday's freezing rain was cracking and falling off the trees this morning. Crazy loud and the chickens wouldn't go outside.

Quick! Before it freezes again

Today is a bit warmer, not what they predicted, but at least enough to mush up the ice a little. I decided to raise the chicken pen gate out of the pool of water that shouldn't be there. Easier than hacking through the ice or wasting money on animal-friendly ice melt for the rest of winter.

Next batch of bad weather expected Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh, boy.

Side note: My fingernails are oddly brittle lately. Elbow still hurts.

Winter still dragging on

Power flickers off and on, thunderstorm during the night. Blizzard sliding across the state, heading this way. We are not amused! On the subject of spring storms, I watched live coverage of the tornados today; so frightening for all those in the paths.

Added to this fun, newest arthritis target is my right elbow. Very painful. Of course, I am right-handed and brushing my teeth using my left hand is an adventure all by itself.

Winter project

This is a project I've had in planning for awhile. Got the materials lined up, but just didn't have the oomph to begin. Finally, after over thirty years with a wallpaper backsplash, I started scraping it off. 

Halfway done! The other side needs more patching, but will look so much better when I get it done as well.

Blogging

 Still plenty of snow around. This is at my parents' farm.

So, I was looking for the date when I had some work done on the house. Not having any luck, I start skimming through my blog and found it in 2011. Now that I've looked through some of those past years I realize how valuable it is to have memories written and photographed. Frankly, my memory is not great. I already knew I have trouble with remembering when something happened; now I see I forget lots of details as well. One post I mention watching a movie...I have zero recollection of ever having seen it; if asked I would have denied it. A little scary.

With that said, my plan is to bump up the frequency of posts. Not so much to burden any visitors with the minutia of my life, but so I have reminders of what happened.

Random

Just sitting here, I suddenly remembered a new boy coming to class in the fourth grade. Teacher says something like 'welcome, Nick' and the boy replies 'I prefer to be called Nicholas'. Funnily that must have been the most notable thing he did because I don't know how long he was at my school and have no other memories of him.

It is interesting what actually sticks around in our memories.

Gah

This was my Mount Everest. I shoveled past all the other drifts, but needed to get through this one to reach the chickens.

My face is frozen and my back hurts, but I reached the chickens!

The wind patterns were so strange. In over thirty years, I've never had drifts like these in the back yard. Especially with so little on the driveway. I have a smallish electric snowblower, but it can't handle wind-packed snow or uneven terrain. 

About thirty starlings and some sparrows in the coops.

Have you ever been so pooped there was no energy left to feel accomplishment?

All caught up

This is the last unfinished needlepoint project finally finished. Funny side story: when I was adding the details I realized I had lost all the brown threads and ended up using embroidery floss instead. Then, after I hung it up...I found the missing browns in the bottom of my yarn bowl. I do have tendency to forget where I've put things.

Annoyingly, I've developed a stress fracture in my foot that is making life difficult.