Health – The Hermits' Rest

Hanging Out

My throat is still annoying and my nose is runny but I didn’t feel too awful today. I was able to go for a pretty good walk this morning and found some new wildflowers have popped up.

I also enjoyed lots of butterflies, even though our fields that are usually covered with a variety of flowers are heavy on the false dandelions.

I enjoyed spotting interesting things on the roadside other than trash that I picked up. There were some bursts of color and hidden beauty.

The horses are searching for green grass, bless their hearts. It’s way early for the soil to start cracking, but it is.

But HA! The skeet shooters didn’t stop the bluebonnets from blooming when they mowed the field. Yay!

Most of the day I relaxed and crocheted (a whole row of the wool blanket!) while chatting with Kathleen. We told stories, watched weird television shows, and spent time talking to the horses. Both our husbands were off working (Lee is in a writing groove upstairs and hasn’t been coming down much), so we filled the afternoon with conversation. It was a pleasant and stress-free interval of hanging out and recuperating! The big thrill was getting into her car and visiting the latest KCC Construction project and enjoying a Dairy Queen treat. That’s the best we could do for excitement, but it was good enough and kept our spirits up.

I’m sure these ladies were jealous of our fun.

My hope is that I’ve built enough strength to get my paid and volunteer work done next week and Kathleen has enough strength for all her doctor visits. It may be a challenging week.

I’m the Source of My Own Problems

Still feeling sick, but I was able to take care of animals and sit in the sun a bit. Kathleen and I took a slow walk this afternoon to just get out of the house. I didn’t get to go to marches with my friends, which I really regret. But my energy is awfully low.

This pretty Texas star was a surprise on my walk by the front pond today.

Right now I don’t want to drive anywhere, anyway, thanks to wars and such. Grumble.

Grumpy is a good word for me, because I’ve not been taking NyQuil or anything, so my snoring and loud breathing issues keep waking me up all night. I must have sounded awful last night, but I didn’t bother Lee with his earbuds on.

Tonight I have Chloraseptic for my throat and will sleep with my head raised. I’ve had enough of this irritating minor illness.

I need to do some writing and other things that require an alert mental state, so wish me the best! And I know there are many friends out there dealing with MUCH more serious concerns. They have my thoughts, and they help me remember to focus on what’s good in life, which there is plenty of.

For example, the chickens are back to laying in their usual nest box! Woo hoo! Plus I found a new plant!

This plant with cool seed pods is wild tantan (*Desmanthus acuminatus)*, the second sighting on iNat in our county!

Weird Illness Symptom

I have a virus or bad allergies since yesterday. Not horrible, but my throat hurts and I’m tired. I do seem to have one off symptom, though. I remember things in the wrong color. What?

Lee brought home a loaner vehicle while my car was getting serviced. It was very nice and looked very much like my car. More than once I referred to it as the black car. It was quite white. Just as white as my car (but sadly lacking the snazzy red interior).

My car, which looks like half the cars on the road today.

I also mentioned the pink book I was reading. I went to bed and saw the deer book and the next book on my nightstand. Both are green.

Yes, I’m reading a popular self-help book about a topic I’ve already been working on. This kind of book serves as a good reminder.

I do think the color thing has a non-viral source!

That’s all I have for you, friends. I took NyQuil, so the zzzzzz is calling.

Book Report: The Great Shadow

I’ve been picking some fascinating books lately. The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, and Buy, by Susan Wise Bauer, is most assuredly fascinating. I wish it was about twice as long, because I feel like she rushed through the past 30 years.

The book traces how humans view illness throughout recorded history. It turns out that those Ancient Greek philosophers had some notions that even today we can’t get rid of, like being in a place with bad air can make you sick (many people still think you can catch a cold by going out in bad weather).

The idea that every illness is particular to the sick person and must be cured by the doctor figuring out a specific cure for them lasted for centuries. It was a big deal when someone figured out that outside agents cause disease and that large numbers of people can have the same illness with the same cure.

I enjoyed learning how people found cures for illnesses before they knew about germs, bacteria, or viruses. Spoiler: it involved guesswork.

What surprised me was how many epidemics there have been that killed huge numbers of people. The plague was really bad, y’all (and there are three kinds!). These incurable diseases kept the population under control all by themselves! And international trade made diseases spread wider and faster. I’m relieved at least some of us lived.

Once we discovered bacteria and antibiotics it got interesting, because so many products were developed to keep our homes and businesses clean. Did you know Listerine was invented by a guy named Lister? You’ll learn the origins of many everyday objects like toilet paper, Kleenex, and sanitary napkins (Kotex).

Yep, if you can stomach the graphic descriptions of symptoms, you’ll be enthralled by The Great Shadow. My copy has already been passed along to my favorite medical editor, Anita, who’s recovering nicely.

We got more plants for the porch today, so I’ll really enjoy reading my next book out there!

Under the Weather

And also the weather is annoying. The annual late February cold spell arrived right on time last night, which made for a chilly and windy day, even though it was nice and sunny. The birds were there, even a Roadrunner, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Roadrunner from the coast, but my photo!

I started feeling like my lymph nodes were swollen last night, and it’s still going on. I’ve taken it easy all day, just crocheting and watching more of the Great Courses series on the Middle Ages. I got past weapons of war and into cathedral construction, which made me happy. It’s fascinating how they put them together. Yes, my life has gotten that thrilling.

Boy do I know how those arches stay up now. Photo from Pexels.

Then, since we finished The Closer (great series, satisfying ending), Lee and I started a show with more modern cell phones, The Diplomat. Lee liked it perhaps too much and we got halfway through all the episodes today. I like the scenery, lots of lovely English interiors.

I finally have come up with a hypothesis for why my immune system is on overdrive. Carolyn and I did a lot of playing around with cedar pollen yesterday, making the male plants “smoke.” Even though they were Eastern Red Cedars, not Ashe Junipers, all that pollen may have inflamed me. Oh well, it was fun.

All that yellow on the green tree is pollen.

Note that the tree is Juniperus virginiana, which hints both that it might cause some allergies and that you could make gin out of the berries (on female trees).

Let’s hope I’m better tomorrow, since there’s stuff going on at work that I have to be ready for.

I Have a Phone Camera Again

That’s been the highlight of the past few days. I’ve taken some early spring flowers and recognizable birds.

You can tell this is a Great Blue Heron!

I’ve just not felt very emotionally connected these days. That makes it hard to blog. I’m just blanking my mind out and gliding through each day. I enjoy the birds, the poultry, the horses, and the changing weather.

It’s all fine. I’m just taking a break from the intensity. Voting means that I don’t have to listen to all the campaigning and can throw the daily collection of post cards from this Schwertner guy who keeps repeating the reasons I didn’t vote for him.

I did have some fun, sorta, when I helped Kathleen do some kitchen reorganizing and watched our manly men remove our old washer and dryer. Tomorrow the new ones show up. Dry clothing will be awfully nice.

I will need to do some cleaning first. Luckily, water spewed all over the place, thanks to an unhappy connection. Cleaned the floor!

Tomorrow I get to go hang out with some friends in nature. Yay. I’ll get to take more close-ups of late-winter new growth.

Plus I will keep crocheting. It’s probably why I’m so zoned out.

Two colors of the solid squares for my blanket. Don’t worry, temperature blanket is moving along on schedule.

My mental state will head back up. It always does. In the meantime I’ll enjoy my numbness.

Pain in the Head

I have one of those headaches that nags you all day. Sleep is all that will fix it.

So, no chatty blog today. Tomorrow should be interesting and perhaps pain free.

Good night.

Crafting Compulsion

I noticed last night that I was feeling “antsy” when I was watching Deep Space Nine with no project in my hands. I’d finished the red hat and both days of February in the other project. I realized I was using the rhythmic knitting and crochet stitches to self regulate. I guess that’s what I’ve done my whole life, with all my lifetime of anxiety. At least my compulsion occasionally results in something useful (or yet another partial project).

I use this fine afghan stitch coaster daily. Crafts CAN be useful!

Not to worry. I recently got inspired and bought the yarn to make what I think will be a pretty blanket, in a very pleasing wool. I’m so tired of acrylic, though it’s the best choice for the temperature blankets.

There are two different types of squares in the blanket, and they are joined with the white (undyed) yarn while doing the final round. I think it will be a lot of fun, and I’ll enjoy the pretty colors.

My first squares and three of the tonal colors.

I also got a good supply of red wool worsted for more hats, too. I hope to make some for friends. This will ensure, as they used to say, “no idle hands” (title of a book about the history of knitting).

I ordered these before I found some really good red yarn in my stash (with moth damage on one skein).

I’ve always turned to the colors and textures to distract myself. I made soooo many socks in the mid 2000s when my beloved job was going down into the chaotic toilet. And when my mom was dying and my relationship falling apart, I made giant, complicated fair isle and Aran sweaters. It helped.

Inadvertent photo of my emotional state. Muddled.

And hey! I can do handwork AND hang out with birds! Win.

Just a Bit o’ Nature

I’m so tired. Trying to work and take in the negativity in the world takes a lot of energy.

The best part of the day was that it warmed up enough to go sit with the birds for a half hour after work. Bluebirds were singing and singing for some reason, which was heavenly. And so many woodpeckers, including Flickers, added to the chorus.

That helped.

Tomorrow is a long day of stressful meetings. At least there are few days like that in this job.

Just keep doing your best. That’s my goal.

Stumped

Two meanings to this: one is I’m still stumped as to why my mental health tanked so hard—I couldn’t even be trying myself to go to my riding lesson today. I was too woozy to feel safe riding even good old Apache.

That meant I got to be home for sunset and the welcome rain that followed.

The second way I’m stumped is good, though. I now have a very large stump in my birding area!

This tree was a hazard on a main road and had to be removed. Lucky for me, the tree’s pieces were destined for our burn pile, and I had mentioned how cool it would be to use a large slice as a bird feeding platform.

This was the first piece I saw. Nowhere near as big as the one I got.

I was working on the porch this morning so I could also watch birds, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of our ancient backhoe approaching. It was beating the stump!

The regular tractor couldn’t carry this!

I have to give them credit, they got me the best stump ever. It’s huge! And when it gets trimmed it will have two heights of at least somewhat level surface that the dogs can’t get to. And since it’s inside our fence, curious cows won’t be able to mess with any feeding or watering stuff I put up there.

The plan is to anchor the birdbath on there, too, so it won’t fall over.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet. I usually don’t feed birds, since we have plenty for them to eat here, even in winter, but it might be fun to get some photos.

Trying to show me compared to the stump.

It’s fun to think about, anyway. I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I can sit in my birding station on dry pillows (because I put them in the storage bin!) and look at the stump. You know, when I read that sentence it occurs to me that it sounds dull as heck. Oh well.

A dull photo of doves roosting before the storm.

I will prove I’m more boring than you’d imagine by telling you the evening’s excitement was when Lee realized the rain on our dumpster made the lights in the house reflect off it. We thought it was mysterious lights in the empty field across the road.

It looked less like a dumpster and more like spooky lights in person.

I also heard a turkey in the woods. Now that was exciting. Connie didn’t gobble back at it, though.