good morning all,
Cold is progressing - DH was sicker than I was but I'm not sure I'm suffering any less.
Yesterday was a lot of coughing. I forgot to take my Nyquil the night before when I went to sleep so rest was not as good as it could be. Last night I remembered - got a better sleep but today I feel very tired, I think part of it has to do with reduced airflow / lung capacity. I am living on soups which for the Mediteranean Diet isn't so bad. I made homemade chicken soup and used cheese tortellini - but didn't eat many - far less than I would have noodles. I also made Pasta Fazool (sp??) with the tiny ditalini pasta. I also bought a bunch of fresh littleneck clams when I went shopping the other day so yesterday I made DH's favorite Rhode Island style clam chowder - it's broth based not creamy. He ate 2 bowls of it. I had a bowl myself because after I cooked it, I didn't feel like making my salmon and cucumber salad.
Yesterday a bunch of deer showed up on the lawn. DH was out on the road in the far reaches of the county setting up computer systems at one of the remote Senior Center sites and I felt bad so bundled up and went out to feed them. Over the course of 90 minutes we had 5 separate rounds of deer come through. I could tell because some of them we know, some of them are skittish when we open the door, some of the regulars follow us in step as we go to the "corn pile". There are new deer that we think smell the corn or follow the lead of the regulars. They all stand in the yard and stare at the front door which is pretty funny but when you open it they get startled and scamper back in the woods. There is a crowd mentality so if a few run. generally the whole flock runs although there are always one or two - usually babies who act like - what are you running from, they are here to FEED us.
Much to my astonishment we have not one but 2 deer that have completely broken their spindly front leg and I cannot believe their are making due. The first one is a female we named Tripod. We think she survived being hit by a car. Her left front leg just hangs and swings in the air. At first she could not use it at all and would hop jump up in the front, land on the good leg and make her way across the yard. We didn't know if she could survive so DH called the DNR (Department of Natural Resources / Forestry Group). One of the rangers told him she has seen many a 3 legged deer - they are incredibly resilient - so unless she was in really bad shape or down, let nature take it's course. Tripod is pretty fiesty too - the deer do sometimes rear up on hind legs or kick each other to assert pecking order for eating and Tripod fights with the best of them so they leave her alone. She comes pretty much every day to eat and she has a small buddy that comes with her I have named Burro because it's a young fuzzy deer that looks a bit like a donkey. Tripod and Burro are always together. Then we had a second deer - this one a buck that has a mangled front leg. It's badly damaged, swollen and bloody. We have named him HopALong. While he looks in worse shape than Tripod, he too is holding his own. Neither deer can put any weight on the bad leg. It's amazing how they manage to get around. I told DH as long as they are getting regularly fed, I guess they have the strength to survive. Both Tripod and HopAlong came to eat yesterday - HopALong stayed a good 30 minutes - longer than usual - ate from 4 corn piles and got a good bellyful. It was worth me going out although it was darn trecherous out there - we had gotten rain and sleet and now the temps were crashing to single digits so the big snowflakes that fell during the day covered over what because terrible ice patches. I shuffled across the drive way. I even put corn piles up into the snowbanks on the grass as well as several on the perimeter of the icy driveway. I noticed that all the deer except HopAlong ate from the lawn and were hesitant to approach the icy driveway - they are not dumb! HopAlong had not issues and therefore got all the biggest piles to himself on the driveway.
I was happy to be able to stay home for the last several days and recuperate. Seems like everything came together on Thursday. I have a 9am doctor's appointment for my annual check up. I forgot I had scheduled a meeting at the Shelter at 10am to discuss use (or lack of) for the Shelter software program - I will be late to that meeting. Then I have bingo tomorrow night. I think I am recovered enough to go although DH said I should stay home. Then I opened my email and saw the reminder that I had a hair appointment at 2 tomorrow also. That was wayyy too much in one day. Especially since DH will have be Mr. Uber and drive me around all over because it's too slippery to drive the Avalon. So I rescheduled the hair appointment for next week. Which is good because the hair dresser has a young toddler and I'm sure she doesn't want to be around sick people anyway. I told DH that I decided I am going to skip bingo one night on the 24th to take a beginning watercolors painting class and he said "good for you - you always say you want to pick up art again and always put it off in favor of doing other things (volunteering) so do something for yourself for once". And maybe I can make use of all those art supplies I have sitting there gathering dust
Laura - I sort of know where you are coming from with the car because I fail to plan ahead when it's cold to allow enough time for the car to defrost / warm up properly. I myself am usually running a few minutes late or or with no wiggle room. I'm glad you didn't get into too bad of a crash. I also understand about the car - the Avalon has turned into my car and it's 13 years old. I am thinking about replacing it - runs well - would be a good commuter car but I'd like something where I can sit a bit higher again and although with new snow tires it holds it's own for winter driving, I think I'd like to go back to the SUV again. I just don't like the small ones and the next size up is bigger than I'd like. So like you, I am on the fence about another car. DH said he doesn't mind driving me (until we get into an argument about something else
and if the economy is going to downturn and with my upcoming teeth expense I am hesitant to make a move. What is the model of SUV that you don't like right now? I am NOT IMPRESSED with the lack of quality in DH's Ford truck. Would not at all be interested in another Ford. As for the fitness instructor. I find that I am become more cranky and judgemental in my old age. And DH is 1,000 worse than me. It doesn't take much to get him upset and I find myself talking him down off the ledge more and more. So in the new year I am attempting to be more like my more calm friends who are not as "passionate" about things as I am
So that being said, I might approach the fitness instructor off to the side after class and offer some constructive feedback if you feel she is approachable. We have a fitness instructor at the Senior Center and J is amazing - she is young and athletic and I am so impressed how she adapts her classes to an older crowd with different needs. So it might be the case with this person - trying to merge / fusion - 2 styles into something new. It's hard to come up with new concepts and she might appreciate some comments. And if not, well then you tried it and move on. I am finding I get cranked up about stuff and hold my temper and then when I talk to someone, it's a really good outcome rather than the fight I was expecting. And then I feel sheepish. Cuz that's just how I am.
Ceejay - I can certainly understand the issue of having to change lightbulbs when you live alone and it's hard to get to some fixtures. I would try the LED ones too. I didn't like the first ones that came out - the squiggly gas ones but I think they have improved on them greatly. I just tried some new ones in the pendant lights we have over the kitchen island and I like them alot. They are instant bright, use less energy and are supposed to last much longer. How sweet that Miley has a buddy in Walter. Having a friend to romp with may burn off some of that excessive energy she has too. I hope your foot feels better. I started back on the NuStep again and had to remind myself that 20 minutes is a good start at first because my bad knee was complaining when I tried to push it further. Don't want to knock yourself out and ruin any progress you made. That's unfortunate you could not find a local TOPS group. We used to have a WW meeting the same night as Bingo at the Senior Center but they lost their leader so now we don't have any local choices either. I'm not sure we will continue our unofficial TOPS group when C recovers from surgery and returns back. It never really took momentum like it needed to which was our fault I'm sure.
Shad - hope you had a good time with the family in Adelaide. How is Lil Miss doing?
Susie - what an interesting goal to set - I am going to ride all the roller coasters - even the ones that TERRIFY ME
Being scared of them myself, that's why I laugh. But using that as your goal to sit comfortably in any ride is great motivation. Ok so you only get to take one crate to the new building - I assume that's your personal stuff and NOT the lives and times of all the people you support - LOL I hope the new building is light and bright and has great amenities. We had to move from a new building to an older one in the complex in Memphis which upset me because the new building was more earthquake proof (and we were up on the top 10th floor) and the elevators which I always hated - got stuck on a routine basis. It got me so unnerved I was happy to take a job across town in another complex even though it was in the ghetto very bad part of town - single story though.
Hello to the rest of you lot. I am going to sniff some Afrin, clear my nose and tackle a few chores around here.