The Coyotes Were Out This Morning

I hate doing it, but - every morning before I let my dogs out into the yard - I start my hubby's truck using the auto start. The engine starts, the lights come on, and then I let Brunel and Lightning out. We have coyotes in the field next to us. They come and go. They hadn't been heard in a while, but I worry, so every morning, that's my routine.

I'm also scared of the dark. I hate it. 68 years old and still haven't broken the habit. Sometimes I feel a bit ridiculous but it is what it is.

So, truck started, and I let the boys out, and Brunel IMMEDIATELY starts going crazy and barking wildly. Lightning came straight back after doing what he needed to, but Bru just kept running around, barking very forcefully. I finally got him back in, just before Mark left at 5.30.

So, the boys and I settle on the bed, and I'm working away doing stuff with my AVON, and on Facebook, and all of a sudden I hear those blood curdling yips, yelps and howling, the coyotes in full victory song. Down in MY field, closer than I want them, and one of the reasons I don't want my boys going down in our field.

Just scary.

So, when I let the boys out again at 8, after dawn broke, I was already dressed and went outside with them. If I am there constantly talking to them, they don't try to disappear down the field. 32 degrees at that point, and there I was, out with them, making sure they didn't abscond.

They're now sound asleep - again - on the bed as I work on the computer.

It's raining again!

It's pouring downright now, the first of 3 or 4 days so they are saying. Brunel and Lightning are most unhappy. They can't run in and out, or play outside, and when they do have to go out, they come back in soaking wet. Lightning doesn't even venture out in it sometimes, just stays on the porch looking sad, so I expect some accidents indoors today. Thankfully, my floors are tile and easily mopped and disinfected.

We've barely recovered from last week's deluges, and the ground hadn't really dried out properly, so my front yard is a quagmire, and the back field is beginning to show mini lakes on the plateaus. I feel badly for the outdoor animals, and the homeless. 

There's even some ponding on roads, and I daresay, by this evening, there will be some flooded out areas. One of the bad things about wet ground, here in SC, is that the trees don't have long roots, so heavy rainfall usually results in quite a few fallen trees. It's dangerous driving on the back roads because you never know when a tree will topple. We get a lot of blocked roads, but sometimes worse than that, wirth trees falling on houses or even on vehicles.

We had an old oak tree out front for many years, but over the last 5 or 6, the upper limbs died and would drop off any time it got windy. This last Autumn, we had somebody come and cut it down, and then had the stump ground down. Better safe than sorry, I couldn't risk it coming down on the house or car.

One of the nice "after the rain" things we like to do, is go down to Cedar Falls in Fork Shoals, to see how the rain has affected the river. It gets pretty awesome, crashing over the boulders, loud and noisy, and about 20 feet higher than normal, sometimes even cresting the banks above the "beach" area. Makes you realise how small we are in the world of nature, watching the torrent.

Thankfully, I have no plans to go anywhere today (or the next few days!). 

Life

Hubby returned to work last Wednesday, and we've pretty much settled back into a routine. I get up at 5am, use the auto start to get his truck running and warming up, make him breakfast and a cup of coffee, pack his lunch and snacks for work, let Brunel and Lightning out, feed said pair of 4 leggeds, feed the feline 4-legged, check hubby has his phone and has taken his pills, and then he's gone. He's out of the house by 5.30pm and will be gone until almost 5pm of an evening.

Brunel and Lightning say their goodbyes ... and then rush into the bedroom, jump on the bed and claim their spots on his side of the bed. I do some stuff online, my AVON, check FB, play my memory and observation games to keep my brain savvy, and then - usually around 7am or so - I switch everything off and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. I used to feel bad about it, but not any more. As my granddaughter said "you're almost 70", and since I worked in nursing homes as a CNA, I've seen folks much younger than me, sleep way more than I do. So, now, my naps are guilt-free.

Today's been a pretty good day. Not by much, but def a bit warmer than the past couple of weeks. I've not had to run my heat to excess, although my heartrate slowed a bit earlier, but 20 minutes of pedalling on my elliptical bike, and 30 minutes on my teeter, got it back to where I felt ok. When your resting heartrate is 45-50, when it slows below that it makes me feel decidedly "off".

The boys played outside for a bit, and I sat on the porch watching them bounding around the yard, chasing each other, rolling over each other, and generally acting silly and happy, amid growls and yelps. They are happy boys. Lightning is now less "snappy", especially around my face during "lovings", so he is learning. They are both spoiled rotten, and know it.

Madam is spoiled also, she sleeps on the bed of a nighttime, but chooses to hide in hubby's closet and sleep on his clothes, during the day. 

Now that hubby's doctor has released him, he's going to start on the remodelling projects again. Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll be able to take a bath in my nice new walk-in tub, with my scented candles for soft lighting and Deuter playing. To say I am so ready, is an understatement. That had been what I wanted to indulge in on Christmas Day ... but - of course - hubby's broken leg and surgery put paid to that idea. All the best laid plans, as they say.

Well, hubby will be home in a couple of hours and I'm going to do him a pizza tonight. Maybe a hot cup of soup to go with it. It's still chilly, still Winter, even if it's not frigid, so warm comfort food's the way to go!

Enjoy your evening!

Hubby goes back to work tomorrow!

 WOW! The past couple of months have been a roller coaster, that's for sure! Hubby's run-in with a pit bull, at the dog park, on November 4th last year started it all. 

He was at the park with Brunel, and Bru and his buddies were all zooming around. They ran towards Mark and all but one veered around him ... and the one headbutted his knee,  and that was how Mark fractured his tibia.

We ended up at the St Francis ER in Simpsonville, and then at Carolina Orthopaedic and Neurosurgical Associates in Greenville, they scheduled his surgery, and then he's had to have physical therapy twice weekly, since the surgery.

Today, he went back to see the surgeon, and was cleared to go back to work tomorrow. He goes ack again in 6 weeks to get totally cleared by them.

The past 2 months have been a pre-retirement of sorts, other than - because of him being incapacitated - none of my "honey-do" list got touched. The bathroom still awaits his tender touch to get the barebones (where we'd taken everything out just before his injury) tidied up, the pipes cut back and replaced, and a floorboard replacing, so that the new fittings (my walk-in bathtub, new vanity and the loo) can all be installed.

Tonight will be a "back to bed at 10pm" ready for the alarm waking us at 5am tomorrow, when I'll get up and fix him something to eat and a coffee, and pack his lunch, for him to get out the door.

Thankfully, he installed one of those automatic starters in his truck, so I can turn it on for him before he goes out there, so's it's warm and the windshield is clear.

I know they've missed him at work, so they'll be happy to see him tomorrow. He's basically the last old-timer there, the others retired last year. The younger guys are just learning so a few times Mark got calls asking about stuff.

Oh well, hopefully he'll do ok, those 10 hours may drag after so long not being there.

Brunel has a new little brother

Yesterday, my granddaughter-in-law, Lauren, came with me to Greenville County Animal Animal Care to adopt a puppy that I'd seen pictured on their website and "needing a home". His name was Geddy but - based on his whizzing around the yard as soon as we got him home - he's been renamed Lightning! Brunel loves his baby brother, and they get on really well together. Weirdly, Brunel growls warnings like the sounds like Chewbacca on Star Wars, and last night Lightning suddenly opened up with a hound-like yodel, so we are having some fun moments listening to them.

Overnight was quiet. Brunel isn't food or pen aggressive, and Lightning has gone into Bru's bed a few times, but overnight I shut him up in his own bed with his snuggly toys, and he slept really good from 11.30 until about 7am. We've had a few accidents but he's usually trying to go outside when it happens, and as soon as he is out, he pees and then runs off to find a place to do the other.

He seems to be a natural "sit-er". When he comes up for loving, he immediately sits, so I'm simply telling him to sit before he has chance to, and then giving him his treat, so that he knows the command. With me also doing the command with Bru, it's just reiterating it.

He is a darling, and already loves us and his big brother, and is having fun exploring everywhere. Being a puppy, we're going through the same thing we did Bru at this age ... we have to hide ALL FOOTWEAR or they disappear in the mouth of the small brown speedy monster that zooms off when he sees us watching him.

Hubby is progressing nicely

 Suffice to say, hubby is getting the hang of his crutches pretty well. Some days he is almost whizzing around on them, with me nagging him to be careful, take it easy, and a host of other cautionary imploring, all of which appears to fall on deaf ears. At least he IS mindful of the "no weight" on that leg for 6-8 weeks, which was something I was well worried about.  With him being diabetic AND having the leukaemia, I am so worried that he might mess it up and end up losing the leg because of it.  Thankfully, all's going well, and he is not in as much pain any more, more of a dull ache, he says.

Life is full of his appointments.  Today is his cancer doctor, tomorrow Physical Therapy, Thursday his allergist for a check up, and Friday, Physical Therapy AT 8.30 IN THE MORNING(!!!!) and then his VA doctor in the afternoon.

Brunel is definitely feeling depressed at not having been to the park, in a month, to play with his friends. As cold as it has started getting, he's not even wanting to go outside until he has to, poor baby.

As for me, I'm losing my mind.  I've lost a couple of things lately and no amount of searching, or praying to St Anthony, is shining a light on where they are. UGH! I hate when I do things like that. With all the decluttering I've been doing, there's not telling where I've put them.

I am getting the hang of how I can do my Teeter, although I only do it for 10 minutes at a time. Because it is not recumbent like the gym ones, it's awkward with my one knee that's less flexible so I kind of don't do a full motion like I want to, I just pump up and down before the actual end of the stride. I still pedal on my trusty elliptical bike though. 

Weight-wise, this has been a bad year for me.  I got sick back in January, and since I can't do decongestants and cold remedies, I was constantly applying Vick's but needed to do hot drinks for my throat ... I don't usually do hot drinks.  So, I had added calories and sodium as I downed cuppa soups and hot chocolate to soothe my throat and open it up. Added to which, not feeling good meant I wasn't exercising as much as I like to, so it was a double whammy.

With hubby home, eating has been erratic, plus I'm an emotional eater, so stress does it to me. Suffice to say, this year I've put back on 11 lbs altogether, and am not happy about it. Along with that, I've not been exercising on the schedule I had, and am having to try to fit in my pedalling and teeter.

No worries, onward I plod. I am thankful for all my blessings and that gets me through.

What a week!

There are so many words to describe this past week ... stressful, painful, frustrating, are just a few. And to think it all began with a trip to the dog park at Conestee.

It was Saturday, November 4th, and we decided to take Brunel to go play with his friends at the park. Since I'm scared of dogs, hubby always takes him in and hangs out with him. I tried once, and stayed down at the seat end, but even then, when all the dogs came running I was nervous, so now I stay in the car and either watch them or read my book. Hubby's normally there with him 45 minutes to an hour, and he has a bunch of doggie pals that he plays with, so I was surprised when hubby comes hobbling back about 15 minutes later, his face screwed up in pain.

Apparently, Brunel and some buddies were basically doing zoomies around the park, and on one lap, his pittie friend ran straight into Mark, headbutting his knee.

We drove home and dropped off Brunel, and I took hubby to the Bon Secours Emergency Dept, They were brilliant, but his x-rays weren't. They showed he had a Tibial Plateau Fracture, they said it was quite rare in the position he has it. Of course, when he messes up, he messes up good!

They splinted him, made him the proud owner of a pair of crutches and gave him an orthopaedic referral, but when we called on Monday, we were shocked to find out that the place they wanted to send him to couldn't even see him until after the middle of next week.

We called around and Steadman Hawkins looked at the x-rays and said they could see him tomorrow (November 13th), and we were horrified that it would take that long for him to see someone. 

Then, in talking with Hunter, the owner of Studio Rejuvenate in Greer, where we go for our massages, he suggested CONA and said it was a walk in orthopaedic office. The next morning, Wednesday, we were at CONA. More x-rays, and a new splint, and a referral for a CT scan that afternoon. They also set him up with an appointment to see Dr Gao, the surgeon, on Monday. We cancelled the Steadman Hawkins appointment.

The CT scan went well but showed a more precise picture of the damage and that it was more severe than first thought. When Dr Gao saw the scans, he had his office cancel the appointment for tomorrow, and had them have Mark come in last Friday.

That visit went well, with surgery scheduled for this upcoming Friday, and Mark came away with yet another splint. This last one is adjustable and (Mark says) much more comfortable.

Unfortunately, not content with the knee injury, on the Thursday evening, Mark decided to fall off the front step outside, and it was a struggle between the 2 of us to get him back upright. The crutches actually helped. We were able to secure them against some bricks and leverage him up bit by bit. 

Suffice to say, my blood pressure has been having a fun time of it because I've been worried about him, and then trying to keep up with all the running around.

I am thankful we have insurance as we are already almost $1000 out of pocket, but we have an additional policy that should cover the out of pocket expenses.

Obviously, this has brought the whole house remodelling to a halt. There is nothing in the hallway bathroom, but 2 holes in the ground. He has to cut out the copper water pipes and redo with PEX, and replace a piece of rotted flooring ... and he's not going to be physically able to do either for about 3 months now. Without those 2 basics, the installation of my new walk-in tub, the new sink/vanity and the reinstall of the loo, can't go ahead, so the tub will stay in the box, on the pallet, in the living room for a few more weeks :(

It has also played havoc with my pedalling as I've been exhausted from all that's going on., and I need to get back to it. I have no pedalling schedule anymore, it's just been so hectic. I guess I need to go and pedal as soon as I finish this!

Brunel has been mellow all week, daddy is home but daddy is his play buddy and doesn't want to play. We took him to doggy day care on Friday for the day, so that he had some play time. We're going to have him stay at the Pet Hotel for a couple of days this weekend, so that he's not here for the first 48 hours after Mark comes home from surgery. That makes one less stress that I have to worry about, as he wants to snuggle up to daddy like he used to, and it's constantly causing Mark pain at the mo when he rolls against him.

Today has been pretty good. 

I started my day with "Songs of Praise" on the telly, and then BBC 1 had "War Horse" showing so we watched that. I LOVE that movie, and after watching it a few years ago, I read the book and then saw the stage show. Watching it again was just as good as the first time.

Then we drove to Clemson to deliver an AVON order to one of my customers, and I took all back roads (I don't do highways or interstates) so we had a nice little meander through Central, along by the railway line. It was relaxing, and Brunel had fun hanging his head out of the window (he can't get far as he has his doggie seat belt on) and watching everything go by.

My car ran well, Just goes to show what a new radiator has done for her!

Anyway, that's all folks! Have a great upcoming week!