Riding the dragon

You might notice the new "widget" on the right side of my blog......it's a way to sign up

for email notifications of new posts, from FollowIT..........if you try it out, please let me know if it works, or not.

Apparently, Feedburner, that says I have no followers, is defunct.

Google says I have 466 followers.  So who is telling the truth???

I'm still in recovery mode, even though I am improving daily, I know that I have a LONG way to go.

My good friend, Sue, has gotten me out of the house a couple of times, which I am so grateful for.  We made a trip to the Argyle Cheese Farmer, right here in Hudson Falls, and this ginger pear smoothie is a keeper.  I will definitely be going back for more.

I put the chicken run on FB marketplace, for free to anyone that wanted to remove it from my property.  Of course, there were several takers.  The man who showed up first  is older, and not a speed demon, but a steady worker, and I think he will have it gone in the next couple of days.

Next is to get rid of the fence all around the back yard.  My goal is to make it feasible to mow it all with the riding lawn mower.  Simple.  Clean.  Easy.

I realized that one perk of not raising chickens, is that if Ms. Fox comes 

around my back yard, I won't be worried and freaking out that she is here.

I did attempt to weave on the AVL, and lasted about 30 minutes, before my leg started

talking to me.

The warp was wonky, so I wasn't entirely happy with it, and cut it off, to retie another day.

Number one daughter came yesterday and push mowed the back yard where the barn used to be, with my EGO battery powered mower.

I know that a lot of the periphery of my yard has grown up and looks awful, but I also know that I can't do any of it, so I have to satisfy myself with what I can get done.

This back yard is what I see from my screen porch, and at least to look out and see it all mowed makes me feel good.  I have to give up the rest of it.

I can still hear my little fountain from the porch, and it's amazing how much joy it brings, when it was so cheap and easy to set up.

The simple things, yes???

I still have a LOT of pain, on a daily basis.  I am taking Ibuprofen now, and 

thought that when I could do that, it would get better.  

But not so much.  So yeah, still riding the dragon.

Sleep is still impossible, and I am still napping whenever I can.

I try to keep myself amused with books and crosswords and streaming shows on 

my laptop.  I exercise my knee every day, do PT twice a week, walk around the house, and around the yard, and otherwise, 

it seems like I am just counting days and biding time until I am feeling somewhat 

human and not thinking all the time about the pain.

I know this will pass, and every day is one more step towards that goal.

What I want most right now, besides having the pain dial down a bit, is to be able to 

drive long enough to see these sweet humans.

Because in the end, that's really all that matters.

Three weeks out

Yes, I am three weeks past my total knee replacement.

I will not tell you that they have been thrilling or easy weeks.  They have not.

This is a painful, and tough surgery.   There is no other way to say it.

But it's doable, and you have to keep your eye on the prize:  a knee that works without pain, 

allowing you to stay upright in your later years.

PT is often torture, but I look at it as a necessary evil to get me where I want to go..

I am not using a walker or a cane.  I am driving myself to PT, which is about 10 minutes away.  I wouldn't want to be driving much further just yet.

I am off all narcotics,  just taking Tylenol, and relying on ICE.  ICE.  ICE.  

And God, I hate ICE.

On the days I don't have PT, I am continually exercising my knee, like every hour.

In addition to the knee pain, I have a screaming IT band up the side of my operative leg, from the knee to the hip.  Apparently, that happens.

To say that I am tired of doing not much of anything would be an understatement.

I read, I do crosswords, I get up and walk around and around the house, I exercise my knee.  I started doing some more greeting cards, a few at a time.

And I nap.  Did I say that I napped???????   Oh, to be sure, I am now a serious napper.

Apparently, most everyone who has this surgery, has trouble at night finding a comfortable 

place for their "new leg".  Thus, sleep becomes problematic.  I sleep in fits, an hour or two here, and there, and the rest of the night is horrific.

So in the daytime, when I manage to get comfortable, usually with ice on my knee, I fall asleep.   Once in the morning, and again, in the afternoon.  And I can't NOT do it,  I'm at the mercy of my need for sleep.

So I just go with it.

I am assuming that my body needs it, so I just acquiesce.

 I've had a couple of epiphanies while I'm recuperating.  Both of them have been brewing in the back of my head for a while, so it's not like they are new.

One is the subject of craft shows.  I had one scheduled for August 1st, and I tried to convince myself that I would be able to do it with a lot of help.

But truly, that's ridiculous. 

Then sitting here with my new normal, at least for now, I realized that I don't want to do shows, now, or ever.  

So I put my canopy up for sale, and some lady snapped it up the very next day.

That kind of puts the cap on that.  

And something else happened that really made it simple.

I had posted on FB that I was looking for suggestions for any shop that might take my collage

cards, wholesale, or on consignment, since I have about 300 just sitting around here.  Next thing you know, a local gallery owner has snapped them up, and taken most all my handwoven clothes, and lots of towels and other stuff.   The best part, is it's about 4 miles from my house.

So that made the decision to give up doing craft shows much, much easier.

The other subject is raising chickens.  

I have been raising chickens for 8 years.

And if you have them, or you have ever had them, you know how much work they are.

My grands don't live close enough to see much of the chickens.  True, they like them when they come, but lucky if that's once a month, and mostly it's longer.

And lately, all I do is spend my time finding homes for the eggs.........

So after weighing all the pros and cons, and really asking myself WHY?   I decided to be done with chickens.

Half of them are gone already, to my friend's husband, who LOVES them, and has given them an awesome home.

The other half will be gone by tomorrow, and they are going to my friend, Laura, who will love them every bit as much.

So I don't have to worry that they won't have a good life.  They will.

And I will have lightened my load, cleaned my plate off a bit, which has been overflowing for some time.

Change is tough, but sometimes, it's the way forward, like it or not.

Every week that goes by is a week further away from that surgery, and closer to getting my life back.

One week at a time.

One day at a time.

Doing what I can, and trying to accept the rest.