Hello Hello!!

 Anybody still out there??!!!

 Ha!  I truly did not mean to be gone this long but I guess life, mental fogginess, apathy, spurts of busyness and everything in between has gotten in the way.  I have been feeling better lately in many ways but still seem stuck when trying to come up with anything to post about.  Maybe I've just gotten so used to the instant post and response of Facebook and similar sites that blogging seems sluggish to me.  I do know that there are many days I have trouble with typing still.  Spend more time trying to correct mistakes than actually typing.  I'm also having trouble with words more often.  I forget or just can't think of the specific words I'm trying to recall.  Of course, everyone does that to some extent but it's getting fairly frequent for me and, as someone that is used to writing fairly easily in the past, it is very frustrating.

 Unfortunately, I just don't have that much to post about it seems.  We did have our annual heavy rains and flooding, as you can see.  They just came about 4 months later than normal.  But that's fine.  We are out of our horrible drought at last.  I think there are just a few tiny area of minor drought over on the west side of the state but for the most part we seem to have recovered.  As you could see in the first photo also, our garden is doing really well.  And many of the flowers are going great this year. 

 I am struggling horribly to get back into any art business though.  Sales for all kinds of things have just plummeted.  You may recall that Allen and I had a booth in an antique/ junk mall where we were making halfway decent sales.  Well, that just all tanked, so we shut that down.  Many others in that same mall have shut down also. I'm looking into online sales, like maybe Etsy, but not sure how that's going to go.  I'll give it a go most likely.  Some people do really well and some don't.  It seems like just sort of a gamble. You never know what's going to be a seller these days. So that's really been a bummer to me.  I've never, ever had trouble making money with my crafts or construction or anything.  Now, it's just all a bomb.  I really don't know what to do.  But it's just one more thing helping me to feel about useless.

 I am having some moderate success selling produce from our garden and eggs.  I mean, it ain't nothing to make any kind of living but it helps pay my incidentals and buy a few groceries that we don't grow.  I'm going to tell you the truth...I feel cursed.  Honest to God, cursed.  Like there is some kind of blackness settled here.  I even smudged and salted the house in an effort to clear things.  It did feel better afterwards and I have had more energy to do things but everything just seems a dead end.  I have a feeling I know where it's coming from but I have no solution at this point.  I'll just have wait it out I guess.

I do not mean to abandon this blog but it's just very hard to formulate a meaningful post anymore.  My brain is just pulled in several different directions at once.  It's hard to concentrate. Typing just now I am suddenly having an excruciating time getting these words out and typing correctly.  I was doing pretty good there for a while and it's like, 2 seconds ago everything just crashed.  If I were to leave this written as is and uncorrected, you would not be able to make heads or tails of what I was trying to say.
I went to back to my neurologist on Monday and he wants to up my Mirapex dosage to see if it doesn't help this brain fog and stuff a bit more.  I'm also having a great deal of trouble with my right side and right shoulder.  Everything on that side has just become so stiff that I am having trouble functioning with some things.  I have a lot of difficulty washing my hair, getting dressed etc. because I can't raise my right arm very much.  So, went back yesterday and had an MRI and X-rays just to rule out an injury.  I don't think it's any kind of injury because when it started I felt so bad I generally didn't do crap around here.  Hard to injure yourself laying on the couch. 

So, I am really still struggling with many things.  A lot of it is emotional.  Parkinson's is a very, very difficult diagnosis to accept.  It's especially hard when you feel so alone.  It's a scary disease and no one wants to hear about it or talk abut it.  If they even believe you have it to begin with.  You want to tell people what's going on with you; why you're so slow, why you're hurting so much, why you are having trouble talking...but then, you figure maybe it's best to keep your mouth shut because you know they are judging you the whole time if you don't act like that person on TV that has Parkinson's acts.  Frustration is rampant.  I feel like I'm stuck in Groundhog Day.  Except every day I have to get up, do my exercises, run until I just can't anymore, just to get my brain to pump out enough dopamine to get my head clear enough to understand what I'm doing for the day and maybe have enough energy to do it.  Then I go to bed exhausted and it all resets itself during my sleep.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Over and over. 
And it's only me to cheer myself on, to pat myself on the back when I do pretty good for the day, when I fight back and don't just totally succumb to the whole shittiness of this condition.  I post a few photos on Facebook so that 2 or 3 people can tell me I'm doing okay.  That maybe I'm not falling so far behind that I'll never catch up.  But it actually helps.  A kind word goes a long way, even if it's not in real time.  You take what you can get, ya know?
I will improve. I will get better.  I will finish my house and I will have a happy, productive life.  There's a season for everything I guess....as the ol' saying goes.

Cherry Bomb

 Well, once again I did not mean to stay away so long from posting but things have just been a little bit of a struggle lately.  I'm making a little progress on the allergy front but not much at all on the arthritis part.  Still a lot of pain.  I did go for a week or so with very little brain fog so that was nice; I was very excited about that.

 On some good news though...the garden is doing great!  We even had enough cherries off the tree this year for me to make a small cobbler with.  Wooo doggies!  It was good.  The chickens really love the cherries too and fortunately the tree is actually in the garden where they cannot get to it.  I suspect I would find them up in it otherwise.  I give them the fruits that the birds have picked on and they just go nuts! Even going so far as to physically knock each other down to get to the cherries first.  They are so funny.

 The peas are doing well although at this point they are kinda on the downhill side.  Being a cooler weather crop they are not lasting long in this hotter weather.  That's fine though.  I've frozen plenty and I'll pull these up and plant green beans in their place I think.

 The cauliflower and broccoli did real well also. We had enough to freeze some also.  I'm slowly pulling up the spent stalks to give to the chickens and am not sure what I want to plant there next.

I didn't realize until I went to do this post that I haven't really taken much of any photos lately; especially of the garden so ya'll are just getting a few scraps, so to speak.  I'll try to get out there and get some new pics soon.

And I had promised ya'll a photo or two of the new art work I am working on...so here is one new piece.  I've actually been doing a series of these and have one more I want to do.  My new direction is not going very well though, although I am very pleased with how my new work is coming out.  I've been turned down by absolutely every show I've entered this year; photography, sculpture.... everything.  But I will not get discouraged.  I like my new work.  Hell, with the setbacks I've faced over the past few years, this is nothing.  I do need to transition to something that is going to make money on a regular basis but I will keep on with the sculpture too.

Purple Haze

I didn't really notice until recently that I have, apparently, such a penchant for purple flowers!  I really like red too but don't have as many of those.  Or I guess they just are not blooming at this time of the year.

So, I'm feeling a little better, although not totally over the debacle of that last show.  I finally got in to see the rheumatologist this past Friday, after waiting on that appointment for about 6 months.  Unfortunately, it seems not to have gone so well..  I could be wrong and it was just my mood talking but I don't think so really.  I was hurting pretty bad the day of the appointment and then had to sit for over an hour past my appointed time because he was late.  Actually, I only sat a little.  I literally could not take that pain so I stood in the waiting room and in the exam room.  No one seemed to notice.

I was rather amazed by it all because I've never had a bad experience at Kirklin but this one made up for all the others I guess.  The nurse's aide acted like she wished she was anywhere on this earth but at work, the doctor never acknowledged being late, no apologies for the wait and had about as much personality as a washrag.  I tried my best to be friendly and even joke around a little but that went over about like a turd in a punch bowl.  The doc ordered several blood tests and some X-rays but told me basically, not to get my hopes up for a diagnosis.  He said only about 50% of the time do these tests show anything conclusive so it was pretty much a crap shoot.  That was nice although I guess it was good that he was honest about it.
The lady who did my X-rays was super nice though and that helped some. 
 

So, I think I have pretty much given up on going to the doctor.  I don't see the point of it anymore.  I went this time because I was thinking that, if I ever need in the future to apply for disability, having an actual diagnosis is paramount.  And, of course, I was hoping that maybe there could be some treatment besides an ablation or just something I could use on occasion for this pain. But, it appears that once you say you don't want to take steroids that they kinda just write you off.  Or something; hell I don't know.  No one but Dr. Nabors has ever even asked me what was I doing for pain and they are quite aware that I am in a fair amount of pain on a regular basis.  Maybe they think I'm gunning for narcotics?  I guess that is probably common these days but not the case with me.  This doctor did seem kinda surprised that even the pain clinic didn't do anything for me or offer me any alternative besides the ablation.  They did drug test me and even after finding out I had nothing in my system still did not suggest any other treatment.  They did charge the hell out of me though and my wonderful insurance decided that they would only pay a fraction of it, so now I'm still paying off a visit that was basically for me to pee in a cup and talk to 2 doctors for maybe 20 minutes combined. 

And please know that I am NOT ranting against the doctors (well, a couple of them I am) ; it's mainly the insurance's system of only caring about how much money they can make.  I have met several really good doctors, I have great respect for those.  Dr. Nabors and my gynecologist, Dr. Summers.  Two great guys that truly care.  But I've met some shit heads too, to be fair.  They are in every profession.  And I suspect that liability has gotten so that nobody is willing to say anything definitive or give you any treatment unless some test show practically 100% positive results.  I also realize you don't want somebody that just blabs out everything like one doctor I went to that suggested (out loud to me) that I had everything from a brain tumor to hepatitis.  But I don't see where it's unreasonable to say, well, we've ruled out all this, and it really looks like it could be this, so let's try a little bit of this treatment and just see if it helps any.  Not this shrugging of shoulders, no advice and wanting me to come back in 4 weeks so they can shrug their shoulders again and charge me for it.  If I could just get something to help me out on these occasional bad migraines I get I would be ecstatic.
I also realize that I may not be expressing myself correctly to these doctors to indicate my need.  I have come to see that I don't always interact socially the way most people do and there could be some problem there, but I don't know what else to do.

So, that is ultimately the final straw.  I simply can't afford to go to the docs anymore for not even a suggestion of help.  Heck, I don't know that I could afford to go even if they did a little.  My insurance company has raised my premiums the past 2 years to the point that I truly can't afford to pay for much of anything above my monthly statement.  Couple that with the fact they don't fully cover many blood tests now and have stricter policies about what applies to your deductible.  I used to never have problems meeting my deductible but last year, despite what all I went through, I only met about one third of it.  And that's the real kick in the teeth and shows you just how screwed up our healthcare is (and how corrupt).  The pain and issues with my bones and such keep me from fully working as much as I normally could at times.  I don't work as much, I don't produce as much, I can't sell as much, therefore I don't make as much money.  So I can't afford to pay so much for medical care that might could help me get back to where I could work as much, so that I could better afford to pay for it.  Got that?  What a racket!

And before anyone suggest I sign up for the new ACA insurance...I've already tried, two years in a row.  They said I made too much money for me to qualify for a subsidy, which is the only way I could afford the new policies they want everyone to switch to.  Which, by the way, cover less than I have now (no dental) and would raise my deductible on some of them.  Nothing about our healthcare system was "reformed"; what a total joke.  The only thing that changed was that now, more people get government assistance to pay for their insurance.  And I'm sincerely happy that those people get help.  But those of us in the middle areas are getting screwed over more than ever, especially if you are self-employed.  Insurance and medical costs are just as high, if not higher, than they ever were.  That is why you can literally travel to another country, have surgery or whatever treatment (and good treatment too!), hang around for a while to visit the sites and come home, cheaper than you could have it done here at home.  Now, I don't know about you...but to me, something just ain't right about that.

So, that's my mini-rant I've had on my mind for some time now.  Basically, I've just said, fuck it.  I'll try to take care of it myself.  I'm truly grateful to the 2 doctors that have tried to help but unfortunately, my issues are not their specialty.  Well, Klippel-Feil is nobody's specialty!  No one even knows what it is.  So, I've been doing much research and am trying to go as anti-inflammatory as possible in my diet and supplements.  This new doctor did mark "non-specific spondylitis" on my chart too (which I had to look for; he would not tell me), so I'm just gonna kinda go with that and assume those treatments I can do myself, like exercise and diet.  I know an excellent, local herbalist who has helped me out in the past and I'll get some stuff from him too.  I'm now taking about 5,000mg of fish oil a day with curcumin and MSM.  There's some other stuff too but that's the brunt of it for inflammation.  And I have got to get religious about my stretching exercises, which did help some and keep up my regular aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, which helps prevent bone loss.  I've done real good in that regard!  I'm very proud to say I've lost about 25 pounds and hope to lose another 10 maybe!  Yay me!  I'm also avoiding milk and most milk products, peanuts and wheat.  It has definitely helped to stop the milk and we'll see about the rest.

In other news, we finally got the whole garden planted but I still have to mulch everything.  I'll try to do a garden post soon.  And we might have a few new additions to our flock...and maybe one subtraction!

I hope everybody our there is doing well!

And So It Goes

 Well, as we had talked about a couple of posts back, this is just a kind of update of what's going on around here.  Heavy on the photos.  I was sitting here thinking to myself, 'well, I just don't have that much to write about.'  But basically, that's not true.  I mean, if I really consider it, there are tons to write about; growing herbs and their uses, gardening methods, crop experiments, simple life strategies, animal care, minimalism and the list goes on.  Truth is, I've just been lazy about thinking up stuff.  I've been kinda down for the past couple of weeks, or more, and just haven't felt like talking much.  Just my usual stuff I guess.  I have had trouble adjusting to being at home all the time.  And I know it's been like 2 years since I retired from construction but it's still working on me.  I guess I need more social connections than I thought.  But, I have been making some changes around here and am feeling better about things.  I'll explain as I go on.

As far as here though, I've got a lot more herbs and such growing than I had last year.  I try to add a couple of new things each year if possible.  A friend gave me several lemongrass sprouts and so I added those to my deck herb garden.  They are doing well.  I've got a lot of parsley going this year as it seems we go through a lot of that and I like to share some with any monarch butterflies that happen through.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen much but we do get a few.

The oats have taken a real beating in all the rain and storms and those damn moles but it is trying to stand tall again.  I really have no idea what I'm doing with this stuff but it's a fun experiment.  Hopefully I will get a few pounds of oats from it.

The rest of the garden is doing well. 

This extremely cold past winter killed back all of our fig trees, along with all the other fig trees in Alabama.  I haven't seen any that got by unscathed.  We predict a fig shortage this year!  They are coming out at the roots again but I don't know if they will have time to bear any fruit.

Lots of squash and so far, no bugs!  Well, there is that spider there but you know what bugs I'm talking about.  My friend also gave me a dwarf zucchini that grows in a pot so I'm trying that out on the deck.  It's fruiting so we'll see.

The tomatoes are doing well and I almost have some ripe ones!  I'll be so glad to have fresh, real tomatoes.  I'm not sure why some of these photos look so out of focus.  It was getting close to sundown when I took these and that may be part of it.  Slow shutter speed.

Going to the gym has been good although I am having to take it pretty slow for now.  I joined mainly to be able to swim but after getting very bad headaches from my half hour swimming stints I'm not sure how that's going to work.  Best I can figure, most of the positions that you must hold your head in to swim stresses my neck too much and walaaa! a headache!  (I can't turn my head to the side repeatedly or look up for long due to the fusions.)  I can swim on my back or side and that doesn't bother me too bad but I think I need to cut it down to maybe only 15 minutes.  I do the circuit machines for cardio though and some light weights also.  It helps my mood greatly and lets me get out and about.

And lookie!!  we got some new sweeties.  It wasn't really planned but they are so sweet.  Allen went to a local auction to sell some of his pheasants, which he did, but he ended up buying 8 young chickens just 'cause he felt kinda bad for the lady selling these.  Unbelievably enough, no one was bidding on them.  So he bid and got them!  He also bought 4 Polish Crested, which I have always wanted, but when I watched them for a while I decided they may all be roosters, and quite aggressive, so I didn't want them.  These little goobers were just so sweet though and kept following me around the pen and I am such a sucker for cute little biddies.  They were also kinda getting picked on by the other birds and Allen was concerned about that, so I bought them from him and brought them down here.  Those Polish Crested can hold their own against those pheasants.

They are in the chick run and are having a great time.  I think I have 3 hens and 1 rooster.  I hope!  These are Buff Orpingtons by the way.  This was the incentive we needed to get rid of those two neurotic, noisy Brown Leghorns, so I took those to a lady that has a small farm not far from here.  They will still get to free range but with about 50 other chickens!

These are so funny; I just love to sit with them for a while each day.  They are so excited about everything and run to you whenever they see you coming.  They finally learned tonight how to go inside the coop house into their little separate "apartment", so they are catching on and settling in.

Well, I hope I will be back soon enough with something more interesting.  We go to Antiques Roadshow on Saturday!!!!!! so I may post before that or that may be the next post!!  Who knows!!  I hope you all are having  a nice summer so far.

Every Time I Itch I Wind Up Scratching You

So today I was helping Allen pack up and move some merchandise from a booth in a flea market/ antique mall type thing and I ran across a very old Glen Campbell LP.  It must have been one of his first albums and out of curiosity I went down the list of song titles, which you all know I use as titles to my blog posts.  As I read the very last one I heard the angles sing and the light shone 'round about me.  Or maybe it was just Allen telling me to hurry up packing....at any rate, as I read those words...Every Time I Itch I Wind Up Scratching You...there could not have been a more clear sign from Above.  It was the title for my next glorious post. You know, the one where I explain why I'm so looney lately and hopefully propels me back into constructive musings and actions. 
All of you that have read my blog for very long know that I am a restless spirit.  Always have been.  I love my place here in the valley and the people and creatures I share it with, but it still thrills my soul to pull out of that driveway and be on my own.  The itch is overwhelming at times and I had laid around here so long feeling like crap that I could sense the moss starting to creep up on me.  (And yes, if you're wondering, the Rolling Stones are a favorite of mine.)  But it's not just the lack of travel; it was the frustration of not being able to do some things for myself and the inability to explain to anybody why.  Other than the Klippel-Feil, I have no official name to put on what this is that has made me hurt and feel so bad this past year.  And you might say, well, what does that matter?  Well, I guess only folks that were raised like I was or have been diagnosed with something unheard of would understand.  I was repeatedly told growing up that I'd either need to stay around home my whole life or have someone else look after me.  'Don't go far because you can't make it'.  But I did make it, and I've got out there pretty damn far, and I've never asked anybody for anything.  I've been given a lot but I didn't beg for it.  So, yeah, to be able to explain to folks that are just waiting for you to stumble or looking for an excuse to say, 'well, you never should have done that to begin with!  Look at the shape you're in now!'  It does make a difference and I wanted to write about the frustrations that people in my scenario face, because I know there are lots of us out there, but it all came out wrong.  It just sounded like me whining or I was just making stuff up. So, I figured I needed a little time off.  A time to indulge me and get my head together..  I had to scratch and God knows I love a good scratch.

Now, before any of you give me a big lecture on not caring what judgmental people think..I get that and I don't really, but some of the eye-rolling and snickering can be a little trying.  If any of you out there have fibromyalgia or something similar you know what I'm talkin' about.  What was more upsetting to me was trying to explain to people that I used to work for, why I can't do some of that work anymore or why it's taking me so long.  Businesses don't care, they need their product.  And most of them are understanding but after a time, and you don't hear from them anymore, you begin to wonder or you just know you've lost another client.  Our health care system is also very frustrating.  I was SO fortunate to get to see Dr. Nabors (who shall hereafter be referred to as the BFD), something I'm truly grateful for, but then I feel like an idiot because he can't find anything and I can imagine he's wondering if I'm making all this up.  According to the tests, I'm the healthiest sick person you've ever seen!

So, long story...the frustration got the best of me.  I had to get away for a while.  I didn't actually go on any road trip but I did go out on my own some.  The sunny days have helped and I've been making more pottery.  After a while I think you just learn to work with certain limitations, if you have them.  I throw for about 30 minutes; that's about all my hips and back can stand.  Then I just get up and do something else for a while.  Then, when I feel like I can, I throw some more.  In 3 weeks I've been able to come out with 2 good firings and have delivered new work to Birmingham.  The universe also knew what I needed and I've been able to visit with several good friends lately.  I even had 2 lunches in one day with two separate friends!  These are other artists too, so it was especially nice.  I even saw some people from my old construction company.  It was, unfortunately, a funeral for one of the ladies from the office, but we all agreed she would have been thrilled at our little reunion and we talked for a long time.
One of the best things this past week though, was I got to visit with a dear friend who I have really missed the past few years.  We email occasionally but I really haven't seen him much.  He is the Guru of Grump.  The King of Crabby.  He put the 'Cur' in Curmudgeon.  He is the BFA, the Big Fancy Architect and it did me good to get to see him.  A few of you very long time readers may know he is the architect that designed this house.  He might deny that because I have had to change a few things he drew, but I think of it as his design and I'm very proud of it.  We tease each other relentlessly and that's one reason why I call him the BFA.  I've met very, very few architects of his station that would dare stoop to be friends with a lowly construction worker so we like to rag each other.  Of course, I've also done a crap load of work for him too but I wouldn't have traded a bit of it for even a shiny, new, straight-claw Estwing.  Well, all except that time I had to climb up in his attic in the summer and block some holes the squirrels in getting in through.  That sucked! *ahem*.  Anyway...

So, I hope to be posting some useful info soon.  I'm trying hard to get back to my old self.  I'm gettin' the itch really bad to finish this portion of the house too, so hopefully I'll have something to show on that before long.!
The spring garden is planted but it's still so cool here it's not doing much.  Well, other than the rhubarb!  That might take over the house this year at the rate it's going. 

Slow Like Honey

The watercress that lives in the overflow of my spring is loving the warm/cold/warm /cold/ warm again weather.  I guess it's sunny and warm enough for it to start growing but cools off again before it starts wanting to bolt.  It has been in this sort of perpetual green but not blooming state for weeks now.  When it starts blooming it gets too spicy for me to eat.  I often forget about it, especially if I'm not in frequent moods for salads, but it's a wonderfully nutritious green and I'm lucky to have to grow here naturally in such abundance.  Wonder if I could sell it to some of those fancy-smancy restaurants in Birmingham??

So, I am feeling better but I can't say I have a lot of motivation for writing lately.  I don't quite understand it.  The brain fog is mostly gone but my thoughts flow only slightly faster than molasses.  I sits and thinks a lot.  But sometimes I just sits.  I do have a strategy of my own for correcting this and I'll let you know how that goes.  For now it just seems I've had the wind knocked out of my sails and the breeze just doesn't want to pick back up.  I will also probably remove the pottery page from my blog here.  I am producing a little pottery but I hurt so much at times and never really know when my back and hips are going to cooperate so, I think it's time to stop taking orders.  If people want to buy the stuff as I'm able to produce it, that's fine, but I hate to make people wait so long for a product.

In regards to that, I've been thinking about what else I can do, when I'm not up for pottery.  Most people assume that ceramics would be like my first love but that's not true really.  Sculpture is what I really enjoy.  It's just easy and faster to make money with pottery.  So, maybe I'll finally start doing a bit more sculpture.  It is actually easier on me because I don't have to be bent over continually or sitting down.  I'm also looking into maybe more drawing and photography, so on that subject I have a question for you!  If you have a good SLR type digital camera that you really like, what kind is it and why do you like it?  Conversely, if you have had one you don't like or it didn't meet your expectations, what was it?  Thanks!

Strange Changes

     Well, I would really like to post that my health issues are clearing up and everything is getting back to normal with many posts about future projects and work coming up.  However, that sadly is not the case and I feel bad about continuing to come here writing about the same old stuff.  But then, I feel that maybe I should just make myself write about anything to keep from falling into a state of apathy.  I have ideas, stories, pictures..but when I sit down I find myself just staring blankly at the screen.  Nothing seems relevant.  The incredible brain fog I was having has lifted to a fair extent but that reprieve has only been replaced by more pain, coughing and nausea.  I can stand a fair amount of pain but nausea is something I just can't stomach.  Ha!!  At least I can still make corny jokes.  Thank God for that and Zofran.
     I had read in the past and heard from others that extended illnesses can make the person feel extremely isolated and I would have to agree.  People just don't like being around sick people and in a way you can't blame them.  I suppose that is one reason I insist on continuing this connection.  It affords me some contact with others. 
     There is also some benefit to this situation in that it gives me lots and lots of time to think about stuff I want to do without my normal headlong rush into things before I've fully thought it out.  Of course, I'm sure I'll still screw up plenty when I do get back to working but I have put lots of thought, scribblings and sketches into various projects that I think will be very successful when I'm done with them.  I normally work quite a lot on the trial and error method; I don't always know exactly how something is going to be when I start working, so I think this extended planning time will be beneficial.  Or that's what I'm going to tell myself anyway. 
     We survived the hideous cold without much ado and the past couple of days have been gorgeous, near 60 F.  They are forcasting a little snow in a couple of days though.  Such is the South.  I putter around the garden and clean house.  I managed to erect a little screen around my brussel sprouts and so have let the chickens into the garden.  They appreciate the last remaining greenery and new areas to search for bugs but they are still not above begging for treats whenever I go out.  Numerous seed catalogs are arriving in the mail and I really need to go through my inventory and see what needs restocking.  I suspect many of my seeds are really out of date and need to do a good culling also.  Maybe that would be a good project for tomorrow.  It's supposed to be rainy again.  We had a wonderful, prolonged thunderstorm roll through in the wee hours a couple of days ago.  Anti-nausea med caused me to sleep completely through it unfortunately.  I know many who do not enjoy storms but I have always loved those stormy pre-dawn hours.  It is pure bliss to lie in a warm bed watching the lightning accompanied by the swells of rain on a metal roof.  I suppose my perverted pleasure comes from all those cold, stormy mornings I had to get up and drive to a muddy jobsite in the dark, only to be told a couple hours later we were rained out.  Oh, on really bad days we could just stay home but if you opted to go in you at least got "driving time" and sometimes they could come up with enough inside stuff that you could make a day.  Having once been a job clerk I could often work on those days helping the boss with paperwork.  Ha! I guess that was another reason to like stormy mornings; easy work for carpenter pay.
     Welp, guess that's all for now.  Oh, the doctor from UAB/ Kirklin is still trying to help me figure this thing out.  Cool, huh?  I suppose if anybody can it'd be those people.  I'm not even going to try anymore to make any guesses about what's going on.  I think he has an idea though and I will probably go in for another test or two before long but that's all I got to say about that.

Not This Year

So!!  It's time for the all traditional Blogger's Year in Review!!  Wherein we see what all was accomplished this year and bask in the warm glow of our sufficiency and abilities.  Well, I'm gonna need to sit by the fire 'cause there ain't no warm glow coming off anything else around here.  This year has been a miserable disaster.  It just flat out sucked.  But, you know what?  Crap happens.  I actually went back through the blog to see if I could even find enough stuff to make a list of accomplishments...and well, it was mighty pitiful.  But, you either cry and feel bad about yourself or you just have to laugh and poke some fun.  It's nobody's fault either; it's just life.  Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield.  This was the Year of the Bug for me.  I did manage to scratch together a few things that were done this year though.  Hey, at least I have plenty to look forward to doing in the coming year...haha!
This year though I did manage, despite much crap, to:
1.  Pour the hearth in the living room.
2.  Start the slate and mosaic on the dividing wall.
3.  Installed the drop lights over the kitchen counters.
4.  I finished the east side of the chicken coop.
5.  Pump house finally insulated. 

See?  Pit-tee-fulll.  We did have a good garden again this year though and I was even able to can quite a bit of food, even learned to pressure can, so that was no small feat.  I was rather proud of that and we have been enjoying the fruits (and veggies!) of those labors lately.  We also planted 3 new fig trees in a new cleared area in an effort to move the figs out of the fenced garden, thus giving us more room for crops there.  We had a successful asparagus crop this spring, albeit small.
In addition to all the other downer stuff ya'll already know, we also lost 4 or 5 hens this year to predators or sickness and the voles ate up yet another apple tree.

In other statistics that I just happen to notice; this post will only be the 90th this year.  One less than my previous low year, making this year my least prolific on the blog.  My readership has also dropped to an all time low; about half of what it was before I got married.  As you might imagine, the US is where most of my readers come from but I was surprised to see that Russia was a very popular second.  France is a distant 3rd followed by China, then Canada, Germany and Australia way at the bottom.  A few other countries pop up in there too.  Most of my referrals come from Google, the Pure Florida blog or Hermit Jim!  The most commonly Googled subjects that lead people to my blog are, snap ties (how to use them), concrete, rebar and footings.  I do occasionally get the odd subject though, such as, "where do I put the dishwasher?"  I would suggest, in the kitchen, but that's just me.
I have also discovered that 2 subjects on my blog have just exploded on Pinterest, sometimes receiving literally hundreds of hits in one day.  Those would be the rebar handrails and the mailbox in the garden. 

So, there you have it.  I will continue to limp along though until the day I can start running again.  I will get there.  I have been able to go on a little longer walks lately and continue to clean and purge around here, getting my studio back in order for working.
Tonight however, is for fun and relaxing.  I've made up just a gluttonous assortment of finger foods and treats for me and Allen and we are going to kick back and enjoy ourselves.  I hope you all are able to do the same!!  Happy New Year to all of us!!  May it be prosperous and healthy!

Word Play

Well, it seems I have descended, yet again, into the pit of writer's block.  Hhhm, maybe that's not quite accurate.  I can think of subjects to write about, I suppose.  I just can't muster the enthusiasm to write anything about those subjects.  Well, okay, so maybe that is writer's block also.  I know after 6+ years of publishing a blog that's hardly anything unusual but it's a bit interesting to me because I have felt slightly more enthusiastic about several other endeavors lately.  Maybe those things are drawing my attention way from here.  I guess it's just a combination of things going on with and around me.  I still go to the Doc twice a week for treatment and I often feel like poo afterwards, sometimes the next day also if he does new stuff.  I'm hoping that side effect becomes less and less noticeable.  Many world or U.S. events have had me quite bummed out lately.  Seems there is so much bad going on; it's hard not to get discouraged at times.  Seems to be less and less interest in the self-sufficiency/ DIY ideals these days.  I think a lot of people read such subjects just out of curiosity, not real interest in doing.  Maybe I'm wrong?  What do you think?
My physical diagnosis seems to have added yet another layer of why I'm weird, etc etc.  'Ah yes, you're that odd, opinionated woman that advocates for other women to do stupid things (like weld), grow food, not spend their life shopping and now you claim to have a condition that can't be seen and no one's ever heard of...M'kaaay, right.  We'll get back to you on that'.  Not.
And yesyesyesyes I know the mantra..Don't pay attention to other folks.  They're the ones who are crazy.  Live your own life.  And I do..but sometimes it's lonely.
So, any words for the not-so-wise?  I thought we might play a game also since I think most of ya'll like my blog and enjoy coming here.  You give me one word and I write a post from it.  And not something like "chicken" or "garden" either!!  Something a tad more removed or abstract from my normal subjects.  Your call will be answered in the order in which it is received so please remain patient.  Exclusions may vary.

A Pirate Looks At Forty (Five)

I didn't really want to continue to post about health issues but at the moment not much else has been going on and I did want to share what I've learned and been going through the past 2 weeks so that if anybody else is having similar trouble it may give you some ideas for treatment.  Now, ya'll know I'm not a doctor and don't even play one on TV but this is just what I've been doing and how it's worked for me.  I was fairly disgruntled after my last visit to my orthopedic doctor and only having more pills shoved in my face, so I decided to look around for other options and ended up making an appointment with a recommended chiropractic doctor.  The chiropractor did complete spinal X-rays, not just spots here and there, and that was an eye opener for sure!  Seeing my whole spine from 2 different views really explained a lot.  I have a small crook at my neck (below the fusion) and a small one way down at the bottom but I have a fairly significant bend right between my shoulder blades.  It's out about 3/8-1/2" actually.  I have had muscle spasms and cramps in that area for years but never really thought about my spine being messed up there.  My tailbone is a little wonky also, so basically, my spine zigs and zags all over the place and it ain't supposed to.  Now, the doc assured me he had seen worse, and I don't doubt it, but this may be what is causing me a great deal of pain and trouble and if I don't get it corrected it will just continue to worsen until I could become almost handicapped.  He also showed me a number of diagrams as to how all the organs of the body are connected to the spine via major nerves and if you are having trouble with an organ, say irregular heartbeats, it is often because the corresponding vertebrae in your spine is out of whack.  Now, I know a lot of people don't trust chiropractors and this would all sound pretty stupid and woowoo, but it makes perfect sense to me.  Maybe I'm stupid and woowoo but whatever.  When he pointed out every one of my vertebrae that are out of place it matched exactly with every organ that I am having issues with.  So, I have started going twice a week for adjustments and therapy to get my spine straightened back out.  As much as he can anyway.  He does know about Klippel-Feil and said of course, he cannot correct the fusions I have but can help with the spinal instability and crookedness.  Another thing he also said was that, the vertebrae around the current fusion, will over time also try to fuse together (which I didn't think would happen) and that could be very bad considering it's in my neck.  As you get older your disk tend to degenerate and calcium deposits form on the edges of the vertebrae.  Because mine are way ahead of most my age, those deposits could get big enough to touch and ultimately fuse together.  Regular therapy should prevent this though.
So...it will take some time to get straighten back out.  He said my spine has obviously been like this for years and even the muscles around it have moved and set to compensate for being out of plumb and out of square.  In my first treatment he said my spine would not even move in one area due to scar tissue and such but things have started to loosen up a bit and the pain radiating down my leg is pretty much gone at this point.  The adjustments make me very sore though and I usually feel like crap for that day.  The next day though I feel better and so it goes.  Hopefully, as my spine and muscles get straighter, I will get to where it doesn't hurt so much and things will move easier.
I guess I said all that to say also that these past 2 weeks have found me in a contemplative mood as I have spent so much time laying on ice packs and such.  There has not been a whole lot I can do lately and that leads to a lot of soul searching and wondering about the future.  I know a great deal of my back issues will get better but at some point I have to ask myself just how much strain I want to put back on it and what activities now hold precedent over others.  Just how much more can I do and still be able to reasonably enjoy what I've built when I really get old?  I've debated whether or not I should continue my pottery.  Many older potters I know have some serious back and arm issues and many eventually learn to throw standing up.  I may have to go that route.  I do know that major production pottery is not an option anymore.  I just can't sit (or stand) at the wheel for hours on end churning out a hundred mugs or what have you.  I never sold many dinnerware sets anyway due to the price!  Maybe I should switch to another medium of art all together?
I'm also seriously contemplating just how much more of this house I can build.  I think finishing the kitchen and other similar inside work will be no problem once I get going again but what about the other half?  Will I ever get to it anyway?  I was recently talking about at least extending the roof over the deck and expanding the deck itself.  How much roof framing can I do?  There's a lot of outside concrete still to pour also.  And a lot of stone to lay, patios and flower beds.  I'll admit I was fairly bummed when I thought about it all after first seeing those X-rays.  Several people have suggested that I should just apply for disability and forget it.  But....I just ain't ready to throw in the towel yet.  If I learned anything all those years in construction, I learned that there is always a way.  I may have to sit in a special chair while I lay one little stone at a time, or learn to throw standing up and I may even have to pay another carpenter to help on some framing or roofing but I think there is always a way.  All of life is just one step at a time.  Just keep puttin' one foot in front of the other.

Now!!  How about some flowers!?  One reader had asked me where I got the seeds for my zinnias and I honestly can't remember that far back.  I have no idea.  Mama may have given them to me or maybe I bought them.  At any rate, I would be more than happy to share these zinnias seeds with anybody that would like some.  They procreate well!!  Just email me your address (ann.beaird @gmail.com) if you like and I'll send you a packet of seeds from these very plants.  I assure you I have plenty to share and don't mind at all.

Misery Loves Company

Hey Everybody!  I just wanted to do a quick post to let ya'll know I'll be back to real posting as soon as I can but it may be a wile yet.  Maybe I can just put up some photos until then.  I'm hurting a good bit these days, from more than just my back, and it makes sitting for more than a few minutes rather painful.  I did have the thought that I could use my laptop and stand up to write my posts though! lol!  At any rate, I'm just in a rough spot at the moment but I'm sure I'm not telling ya'll anything new.  I hope all of you are doing well and having a productive and fun summer though!
So, that brings me to the real subject at hand.  I've been kinda curious since my last posting and all where I was talking about the massive amounts of rain here.  Just how is the weather where YOU are?  I know it's getting harder to say what is normal anymore but, on average, how are things?  Colder? hotter?  Flooding or drought?  And believe it or not, I do have a reason for asking as I would like to do a related post when I can sit long enough to do some research.  But I like to hear form real people too.  So, leave me a comment if you are so inclined and I would be immensely grateful.  Don't forget to include your location even if I know you.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

After I read Pablo's comment in the last post I admit, I felt kinda bad.  I didn't mean to sound so gloomy.  It was just my usual pissing and moaning that comes and goes about like the phases of the moon.  I have noticed for some time that the demeanor of this blog had been changed and I guess it occurred to me, finally,  that some of the emotion was gone that used to be here.  I used to rant a good bit about Wal-Mart and rampant consumerism and all that sort of thing but I guess I've lost my taste for it.  Oh, I still hold all the same beliefs I used to (believe me), and I've never been under the delusion that my opinions ever influenced anybody, but it has just felt like beating a dead horse I suppose.
I've been frustrated with my body and it's apparent attempt to cause me misery at every turn.  And with the doctors that really seem not able to care any less.  I've come to the conclusion that 90% of them are just legalized drug dealers anyway.  If you can't or won't take their drugs they seriously have no knowledge of anything else to do.  To give you an example of how desperate I've been lately for some relief I actually tried 2 different prescriptions and a couple of doses of steroids.  The 'scripts had bad side effects and after 5 days I had to stop.  Do the docs have any alternative plan or treatment?  Nope!  Just nothing.  So, I've been trying to figure it out myself.
Another honest confession; I've had trouble writing posts for probably over a year now.  I have trouble organizing my thoughts enough to write, as you can probably tell.  ha!  I forget a lot.  My hand coordination has gotten worse and I spent as much time correcting my typing as I do typing.  I drop things a lot  that I used to have no trouble holding on to.  But I know, I know!!, that I am so much better off than many people.  I can still do most anything I want to do.  Maybe not as fast as I used to...but I can do it!  It is life though.  You adapt, you get by, you figure a way.  I think I have figured out some stuff and I am working on improving.

The garden this year is a good example of all this.  It's been so cool here that things are not like they usually are.  I have yet to harvest enough okra to make a dish for supper.  That's unheard of for mid-July in Alabama.  The tomatoes are finally coming in but I haven't had enough to can yet.  My Romas are very prolific but very small, like plum tomatoes, so I have been drying them instead of canning.  I've never tried that before but I can't bear to waste them and I think the chickens are even getting a little tired of tomato scraps.  The potatoes didn't do a whole lot but I had a good harvest of garlic and the rhubarb is still hanging in!  The first round of figs got wiped out by frost but they actually sprouted again so we'll have figs but very late in the season.  The cukes got borers in them so I may not get to make many pickles this year but amazingly enough the squash is untouched.  And it goes on and on.  We will make do with what we did get, maybe buy enough to can of what we didn't get and we'll try it all again next year.  I know I've learned a thing or two from this season that I can hopefully remember next year.

Really, things not going your way are often a blessing.  Makes you look at stuff from a new angle, try things you've never tried before and that can end up being a very good thing.

Summer Of Discontent

It occurred to me that I don't seem to rant or "vent" as much as I used to via this outlet.  Of course, having constant male companionship doesn't leave my evenings open as much as it used to and the darkened hours when you are alone are a fine time to conjure gripes and tirades.  The storms and aches of the past few days are about enough to convince me of the latter.  Actually, I had felt pretty good until today.  We have had somewhat hot but sunny days and I have finally caught up on some pottery orders.  But the lightning came again today, jarring the earth and my sore bones along with it.  Perhaps there is something to the electromagnetic fields that accompany the downpours.  Or perhaps it's just the side effects of a new round of prescriptions that I don't want to take to begin with.  Whatever the reason, I have what can best be described as, a crappy attitude.  A sore ass, as we used to say on the job sites.

The gardens are enjoying the water and I'm grateful not to have that extra work.  The chickens make me happy yet and somewhat fill the hole left by Grendal's passing.  I make a point of going out at least once a day to sit amongst them on one of the many large rocks in the yard.  As soon as I am seated Susie and PeePee usually come running in their awkward, penguin-like trots to be the first one up in my lap.  It is physically impossible to watch them and not smile.  After they make themselves comfortable they proceed to chatter away while I scratch their backs.  Occasionally they will stop and look right at me, as if they are expecting a reply and in those moments I always feel somewhat self-conscious at my obvious lack of understanding.  I take a stab at what seems to me to be the same sort of chirupping sounds but as they resettle in their position on my leg and nod off with a shake of the head, I believe they are just resigning themselves to the fact that I will never learn to talk properly.

My good Russian friend came out Friday and brought her class of 4 art students so they could learn a bit about clay work and make a couple of small things for themselves.  Sveta is a lot of fun and always insist on bringing food when she visits, and I had plenty from the garden, so we had a nice lunch after class.  I'm not sure how much they learned about clay but the kids learned what a good, honest-to-goodness, real tomato is supposed to taste like and that may have been more important anyway. 
So, they are calling for more rain in the week ahead and I hope they are wrong for at least part of it.  I hope this fog lifts off my head also and lets a little sun shine in.  I could use a bit of sunshine.

*Edit:  I have temporarily removed the word verification and we'll see how badly I'll be inundated with spam. lol!

New Blooms

Well I guess I've turned into a regular Mary Freakin' Poppins over the last year or so, what with all the namby pamby gardening and flower posts.  Long gone are the posts about slinging steel and chasing men and my whackadoo rantings about how all that was once a helluva time.  Well, that's what happens when you get decrepit, not to mentioned married.  Haha!  Do I sound pissed off enough yet?  I'm not I assure you.  It just struck me as kinda funny as I was trying to decide what to post about tonight.  It's been rainy and ungodly humid the past few days and my bones are killing me.  I'm a little better tonight but still feel like somebody stomped a mudhole in me and walked it dry.  That was very common to hear on the jobsites.  I should make a list of all the old expressions while I can still remember them.  And NO!!  you are not going to have to hear me complain forever now about all my physical ailments.  I shall not be constantly telling you about my lumbago (whatever that is) and my hemorrhoids and the typhoid and cat scratch fever I got last week.  Just a tweak of information if I sound a little ill.
Sorry for the suck ass photo above.  I should know better than to take a picture like that.  It has absolutely no visual interest at all because I stuck the subject matter right IN the center of the composition and...it's too far away.  At any rate, I was very happy to see this flower because I have been trying for years to get this astilbe to bloom.  I've dragged this stupid plant all over my land trying to find the perfect shady and very damp but not too wet spot for it.  I guess it thinks it's a new nomadic variety.  And yes, I realize I'm the stupid one because it took me 3 years to think to put it down by the creek.  Loves it there apparently.  Now watch the deer eat it.

This store bought hydrangea had bloomed before but not much.  Last year would have been good but the rats with hooves, as Woody puts it, decided they would taste test alllll the stems that had a little bud on the end.  I guess they remembered they didn't really like it or else now think it is a native because they haven't bothered it.  These plants are all down near the creek and away from the house and my fearless (as long as it's just a deer) watch dog, so I have to pick things that the deer just won't like.

The blue is nice and it's striking in the vibrant, green shade.  I like the funky, abnormal shape of the blooms too.  Slowly I am building up the visual interest along the driveway with flowers and shrubs so that you see more than just weeds and trees.  My goal is to eventually have it lined with all sorts of blooms and textures.

This is the "snowball" type hydrangea.  I don't know the actual species or type so if you do please feel free to pipe up.  It has settled in well and growing.  The deer obliged to prune it too for me last year.  Little craps.  We missed the daylily sale yet again this year as we had already made plans to go to Mobile.  I hope to get back to it next year.

These blooms dry really well so maybe I'll snag a couple for that.  So, well, there's yet another flower tour for you.  I keep talking trash about showing ya'll some house goings-on but I haven't got very far on any of that.  I have gathered all my materials to start the job..but that's about it.  In my defense I have been throwing a good bit when my back is not trying to kill me so that is taking some time.  Hopefully I can get caught up a bit on that soon.  It just never ends really though.  You never get caught up.  You never get done all you want to it seems.  Oh well....that is a whole 'nuther rant!!

Renew

 Once again I come to ya'll with the tired ol' excuse of  "well, I really meant to post again before now!" LOL!  I really did have good intentions and actually had something to write about but stuff just kept coming up and today has been especially long.  I'll get into that in another post.
At any rate,  I did have something I wanted to write about so we'll get on to that.  And yeah, I finally got this orchid to bloom again after 2 years of barrenness!  Yay me!!
I think ya'll may have gotten the idea that for the past oohh, 6 months I had been discouraged about continuing this blog and you would be right if you did have that idea.  I really couldn't put my finger on why exactly; I enjoy writing, even if just for myself and I still felt the urge to continue blogging in the back of my mind.  So, I rolled this over in my head for some time and then finally got distracted by all the crap happenings of this year.  As is usually the case, the answer then came to me after I quit thinking about it.  I've always been pretty fortunate to have supportive readers on this blog and rarely get the "trolls" that I have seen, or at least heard about, on other blogs.  I also publish all comments; I don't censor like some bloggers, so if someone is ugly to me, everybody sees it.  However, I seem to attract trolls in real life, some pretty nasty ones, and I guess I had just gotten kinda tired of being beat upon for advocating the hideous ideas of recycling, growing your own food, non-consumerism, independence etc. etc.  It seemed like every time I turned around someone was calling me an elitist, a snob, delusional, cruel and scary.  Now, I know I'm supposed to be Ms. Strongly Willed and Super Liberated Woman but sometimes anybody can get discouraged.  I have very few friends (in real time) that live like I do AND hold certain personal beliefs.  I know lots that beat me hands down on environmentalism etc. but we hit a wall on matters of faith.  I don't care what people believe in that regard but many today kinda sneer at anything that even resembles Christianity or a faith and can't resist giving their opinion on the subject.  For example, I had someone who I thought was a friend, tell me I had a mental neurosis because I choose to believe in God.  That was just uncalled for.  And conversely, most religious people I know find my lack of consumerism and recycling to be well,,, stupid..  Yes, I know lots of people who don't mind others with differences, thank goodness, but many people today apparently love to attack anyone who doesn't agree with them.  Our society fosters that type behavior in my opinion.  I think a lot of things I encounter also are the result of people assuming that because I hold myself to a high standard on my art, house and such that I will actually look down on anyone that doesn't fit my guidelines or do things the way I would!  Yes, I wish more people saw the importance of good local food (for example) but I really couldn't care less as far as treating people decently.  I simply feel that if I claim to believe in something I better back it up with action or my "beliefs" are not worth a hill of beans. So, I said all that to say I had just gotten sick of the BS.  Just figured it would be best to quietly live my life like I want to and keep my BIG mouth shut.
Then, lo and behold this week I was making my blog rounds and saw several other posts about the importance of people interested in the same things that I am sticking together.  For the exact reason that real life can be...discouraging, shall we say, "weird" homesteading/ sufficiency bloggers must stick together and provide an environment that fosters our ideas and lifestyles.  Green living and that sort of thing is becoming more and more popular but, by and large, we that actually attempt it to any real degree are still waaayy in the minority and often ridiculed in 'real life'.  Now, as I have been told, there are much better references, blogs, etc. for info on gardening, green living etc than my blog but hey!  I'm in there!  I have a few ideas and experience and I have a renewed desire to show how I do things and encourage others to step away from the box.  To realize that you don't have to live like most of society, if you don't want to, and that there are others out here that share those ideas.  That there is a real, ultimately fulfilling, rich life contained in simple living.
So, I will endeavor to persevere, and extra brownie points to anybody that can tell me where that saying comes from! LOL!  And don't worry, I still intend to post about just the silly things in life and maybe some old work stories, travel and stuff like that. Speaking of such though, I have noticed I have a number of new followers lately so if anybody has any questions about any part of my house, gardens, animals etc. or would like me to post on any particular subject please feel free to speak up.  I welcome all comments (even anonymous ones!), suggestions for posts and all that and really do try to respond to all.

When It Rains It Pours

Our annual winter rains began earlier in the week and hopefully, will end soon.  Just as I hope my run of personal misfortune ends soon.  I would have sworn to you that this rains only occur in the spring, March, April etc. but after checking back through the blog I see that it is actually right on schedule.  And exactly in line with Alabama weather, we are expecting snow tomorrow!  As I heard someone say once, Welcome to Alabama! Bring your whole wardrobe!

I must say the whole blog thing is handy for checking your memory if nothing else and I find more often than not that my memory is the one that is faulty.  There have been several times over the years here that I would have sworn to you that such and such happened but after going back and reading the actual account.......well, okay, so it wasn't quite the way I remembered it.  I have read numerous studies over time about just how faulty the human memory is and so influenced by our own personal beliefs and this blog has proven that to me more than once!

I've been a little worried that the chickens would get a little too close to this flowing water and be swept away but so far they are okay.  Well, safe from the water anyway.  I heard an awful screaming going on today and ran outside to see a hawk pinning one of my babies down on the ground.  I screamed profanities at him and ran out in the yard in my sock feet.  He finally flew away and I was astounded to see the chicken jump up and run towards me, diving under the deck for cover.  I was sure she was already dead.  She did suffer some serious cuts and tears but she was alive, albeit missing a good percentage of her butt feathers.

They refuse to stay out of this rainy weather but do hide under my truck during the worst of the downpours.  I am anxious to see what they think of the snow!
Oh, to JMD, yes, we are getting a fair number of eggs right now; around 8-10 a day.  Some of them are still kinda small but they are getting bigger.

And in keeping with all the wet, miserable gloom I have now developed a nice case of the shingles to go along with all the other crap of this new year. I don't think I would wish shingles on my worst enemy.  It is very painful.  But, I guess on the bright side, my rash is fairly small and only on my shoulder area.

Only poor Scooter looked as miserable as I feel.  Not much is sadder looking than a soaking wet chicken with a gapped up head.

Well, I suppose I have vented enough for this post.  Maybe I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with some pretty snow pictures!!  Or maybe I'll just hide in bed for the next week.  It's a toss up!

Writer's Minor Holiday

After writing that I was going to really put an effort into posting more regularly, I know this is going to sound stupid, but I think I'm going to take a bit of a break from blogging, or maybe just post occasional photos.  I don't know if it's just my normal neurosis or what but there seems to be a very discernible lack of interest these days and unfortunately, this affects my interest in writing sometimes.  I think a lot of people are just really, really busy these days, having health issues or kinda burnt out on social media at the moment.

I am also extremely busy with pottery orders too, so this is an excuse to devote my time to that!  However, if anyone thinks they might like to order any pottery for holiday gifts please contact me as soon as you can and get your order in.  I hope to be caught up by the end of this month and maybe even have an Open House in December but I don't know if I'll manage that or not.

So, I leave you with pictures from my last firing, which came out well I thought.

If I complete any special projects in the house or garden I may post that but it doesn't really look like I'll have much time right now for anything but pots!

Are any of ya'll noticing or participating yourself in a reduction of cyber time?