Mt_Rider

Ugh, I hate early mornings. We had to race to arrive for my ride at 8:30am. Who gets up that early? (someone without sleep issues from the night before.... ) No, I actually slept well but ....moving around getting ready. It's enough to make me consider coffee! I was the only rider that early. Sheesh, wrangler and I should have communicated and we both could have had more sleep. But it sure did me some good to ride after not riding the past 2 wks. And will be 2 wks again cuz of other stuff in the way. I had to take an hour nap by 1pm tho. I'm heading for bed on time tonite. "on time" means anything before midnight. Better than 2 or 3 AM. My mom is doing very well right now. She goes off to have fun/shopping/sight-seeing with her home health aide. Her BP is finally staying in a decent range with the change of meds. We have zero change of wildfires....rains every day. No beavers so yeah, they went off in a huff with the slap of the tail. I enjoyed them until they began to restructure the pond more to their liking. Repair to all that can't begin with this much water saturation vs heavy digging equipment. Electric repair can't be completed until electrician is well again. Oh well, we've gotten used to our adaptions... MtRider ..

Tornado demolished a lot in one small town. 3 died and many injured. Said it formed and hit without much warning. MtRider

Well...whatever digging and pole poking DH did yesterday really opened up the pond to flow into the tunnel. Since we haven't been able to reach down to clear the fencing on the intake pipe, I don't think any of it is going thru there. So when I looked down at the pond and pasture where the water was backing up---- Oh! It's back to normal levels. Evening feeding, I got a look at it. That must have been a huge WHOOOOSH when the pond was free to flow again! DH also had chopped out a trench thru the sod to drain the driveway puddles faster to the other side. I've done that one every year that we get standing water. Not this year. His back hurts today tho. We're getting too old for this pioneer/farmer stuff. Hmph. But he got it done. MtRider ...... I think we insulted the beavers. Haven't seen them for 2 days..... ?

I had called property manager J last nite about the beaver issue. She and B {who is finally on his feet again but not too steady} ......were at our place with DH when my ride dropped me off. I had PT this morning. Kept sort of verging on blacking out. But I could do the laying down exercises ok. Hydrate! Anyway, was pouring down rain again. They'd looked at what I described about the invasion of beavers. They're formulating a plan. But J kept saying "how am I going to explain THIS ONE to the owners? (they don't live in this state) Glad we don't have to deal with all the weird things that happen on this property. BTW...where is the electrician? Oh....he's very sick. Well, that's on hold again. But DH told J/B we wouldn't be home cuz of "his issues" coming up....again. So we're not stressed about the electric still not fixed. The driveway flooding is fine - as long as it keeps draining to the other side. If we can drive in and out, we're fine. It's going to be watering the rhubarb pretty soon! The berm and conduit and flooding pond.... It's not going to affect us. Beavers? They'll have to figure that out. DH trenched so more flood water would drain to the downstream side of driveway. Usually I do that but not this year ....yet. MtRider ....life continues

Something tells me that you are up even later than me [time zones] and trying to do Typing on MrsS Therapy. Relax. Take a pill.....I'm gonna hafta too tonite. Chill. These situations beyond our control are really messing with sleep schedules. Hmmmph! And I've got to catch a ride to P.T. tomorrow early. So I'm signing off. I hope you can go to sleep soon, Jeepers! MtRider

High Fives with Jeepers! I'm with ya on that one, sister! Really there with ya! Now....wait'll ya hear THIS ONE! Wellllllll....are y'all ready for yet another bizarre situation we're having? We've been rainy - which is a good thing. It grows more stuff the dry out later and burn in wildfires but ....for now, there can be no fires here. Our pond overflows some years but it only "sheets" across the turn-around circle and the driveway near the road. At this location we're significantly lower than the road until we go steeply UP HILL to the cabin. Ducks/geese house is on a large berm. Likely made decades ago to form the big pond. Pond is increasing in size ...daily. It's fed by the creek that flows into the pond and flows out of the pond into a metal culvert that is under the berm and that part of the driveway. Dumps out into the other pasture. Very nice to have a water feature in these mountains. Enter into this idyllic picture: Two Beavers. I happened to check the intake area of the culvert a few days ago. Beavers make a mess cuz they're always gnawing on plant life and woody trees/shrubs. This floats across the pond and is clogging up the screen for that end of the culvert pipe. So I'm balancing on the top of the cement slab (it's at a slant) that holds the pond-end of the culvert in place. I'd noticed that there are crevasses forming on that end of the large berm.....and was surprised to see the pond side of the berm is actually hollowing out due to the water forcing it's way downstream outside of the metal culvert. How can I fix that? Water's so high, I can't even reach the screen to clean it off. Will have to bring down some long-handled brush???? There is, by now, a 5' gap of dirt eroded away between the cement slab and the beginning of the tunnel. Should not BE a tunnel. Should be only the end of the metal culvert in cement slab backed into the berm. Aiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH THIS! It gets worse: Tonite I stopped to look at it again after walking the dog. Oh good heavens! Those blasted beavers are building a den between the cement slab [which is now completely underwater] and the "cave" that's formed deeper and deeper under the collapsing berm hill. Where the berm ends is flat and we use that as a turn-around area to go back up our driveway. But it's supposed to be above water level....it's not. Deepest is still only inches of water....cuz it's a fairly big area and it's sheeting across to drain into the creek on other side of driveway. Still fine to drive thru.....so far. Need boots to cross it with dog tho. Beavers are excellent builders. I spent a while tonite dismantling the beginning of their structure but nearly fell into the pond trying to pull some of it loose. They use the grasses, etc. to "cement" all those odd branches they've chewed and carried from around the pond to this spot. I pulled about 2 dozen sticks out. Got a big hunk of backed up grass mat (they do that too) loose and a GUSH of pond water began to flow. Did I mention that they had utterly STOPPED the pond from flowing at that point? No wonder we're flooding the flat area. The pond is fed constantly (esp now with heavy rain today) by who knows how many miles of creek up stream. It's always flowing thru.... I let that part flow and got to the car....reporting all that to DH. Called our property manager.... good thing we've known each other a very long time now. She knows when I call, it's something WEIRD again. Beavers. Building a beaver dam. I know they're just going to go collect all those branches and put their home back together again tonite. So J is going to call Dept of Wildlife. I think they're the only ones who can legally handle this. Good plan. Forgot to tell J NOT to walk up that end of the berm. It's ready to collapse after being undercut by that water. MtRider ...yeah, this is a new one!

Hope someone baked the cake [or your preference] for you today, Euphrasyne! MtRider

DH has siblings like that, Little Sister. Those people are trying to fill a hole that won't be filled by any amount of riches. They push away love....which will fill them in ways they've never had or never accepted. Sad....evil pushes that sort of thing. Ok...for an update on what's going on in CO...... I'm going now to post in Blue Couch forum. Jeepers....you absolutely still hold the title for Worst Ever String of Horrid Happenings. {sounds like a Harry Potter book!} But DH and I are trailing you, for sure. We're fine but..... MtRider ...c'mon. Y'all didn't think things would go smoothly now, did ya? God's got this.

Thank you all for prayers. We're at the hospitality house for cancer patients. Dropped dog off at vet boarding. Hope she does well. Wow!!!! This place is about as big as our house! Living room with couch, recliner chair, other chair, big TV [which DH could find nothing of value on...we don't have TV] Kichenette. Stashed our 'meals' and our well water in fridge. BIg King size bed in a big bedroom. Wheelchair accessible bathroom so it's big. Closet. 2nd floor but they have an elevator. I hauled stuff up via wheelchair while DH was having pre-0p tests all afternoon. I drove over to fetch him around 3:30 but he wasn't done til 4:30. Managed to find him tho. We came back here and had salads -stuff from the kitchen downstairs. Then we went out a few blocks to Dairy Queen. I had mini-fudge chocolate Blast. A reasonable exception to my no-sweets/desserts plan. So....going to go to bed but goodness, he's snoring! Good tho. He needs rest for tomorrow. Goes over to hospital in morning but he's sedated by 1pm for surgery to begin. Plastic surgeon takes over to put his face back together. Pray for that area -- not sure if the lymph nodes affected. That would have been easier on the back to chase down lymph glands. A friend is coming to chat with me while we wait over there for them to finish. Not sure how long it will take for him to be able to wake up- get to car, etc. Folks so very kind here! Can't believe how much they provide to make our stay as easy as possible. That's all for now. I'm yawning. Big day tomorrow. Congrats on grandson, Becca Anne! Glad Mr Miki is doing well after dental. Gotta get our guys healthy! Good for you, Jeepers. I'm doing that too - get a handle on medical stuff I've put off. Little Sister....don't push too hard all at once! I envy your garden but not the work at this point in our lives. MtRider

Glad MrMiki is doing well with dental! Little Sister you wear me out just reading all you get done in a day. ...but it's great to havve your house back, right? Well....until I got the suitcase packed and other things in order, I was having a nervous fit. Inward....not bad outward except shaking hands. I have that anyway but I knew this was just ....wehavetogotomorrow...amIgoingtobeready? I always do that but this had more push to it.....cuz we ain't goin' on vacation. God helped! So tonite....we're pretty well set. Dog stuff is gathered. When we leave her here (rarely) we leave a certain small dog rope/chew and a certain bone-like treat. So we'll do that when we leave her tomorrow. If the staff follows it, she'll get her teeth-cleaning "alligator" before bed [ or whenever the staff leaves] Some routines still in place. {we're coming back for you...REALLY!} DH and I concur. We'll be glad to see the backside of this one!!! Certainly not as bad as it could be..... MtRider .... THANKS SO MUCH for prayers! Hospitality House has WIFI so maybe I'll give progress reports...??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEEPERS MtRider ....late but it's a party

Well, to day was better but still got the shakes when I was up and doing.... But I dug out the suitcase I'll use. and it's getting full. Did load of clothes to have certain things I'll need. DH traveled for over an hour and half total....for a 10 minute pre-op appointment with the plastic surgeon. Marked on his face where the main surgeon would likely cut. He's gonna be sore for a while! The doc does need to get it allll. Oregon baby must have arrived cuz we're not hearing from the Grandma..... MtRider....

For unknown reason, I felt awful today. Like all the fatigue was back. I was late taking the first red pill.....but did follow up with the second pill. Just no get-up-&-go! I did walk the dog but it was like before....barely made it to the first driveway with her pulling me along. Did not climb back up the hill - we hitched a ride in car with DH (who was shutting up the birds for the night.) Soooo...we decided I'm not going with him tomorrow - it's just a pre-op appointment for the plastic surgeon. I do have to start putting things into a suitcase. But we'll be bringing food down too. Kichenette in room and a whole kitchen - dining area to use. Have to figure out what he'll want to eat when he comes back from surgery. All day w/o food. He pretty much has an iron gut. Eats KimChee soup when he's sick. Lots of garlic for fever, etc. Save energy for the end of week. MtRider

tho....Friday is surgery but so many Pre-op appointments this week. Gonna be a LOOONG week. Armagedon? Well, heck YEAH! My brother would say such things! But if that's all you heard, Jeepers, he restraint was excellent! I'm trying to get up the motivation to walk the dog. Have to change into jeans and outdoor shoes and..... MtRider ......I'm going...I'm going......

Favorite Color: sparkly deep purple Favorite Season: Fall...cool enough to be safe and do things outside again....but dread that winter comes next.. Favorite Drink: good well water ..... {or else a thick chocolate malt!} Favorite Food: ? the aforementioned chocolate malt? Bacon. Fresh garden produce. ...lots. Did I mention CHOCOLATE? Favorite Book: ...uh Favorite childhood book was Heidi. I have 3 copies of it. Beyond that ....I read thousands. Favorite Movie: ...uh I haven't watched movies in decades. DH borrows from library but I'm more into books. The original Star Wars was exciting...way back then... Favorite Tool: my ever-present Swiss Army Knife I used to wear holes in the front pocket of my jeans but carry in a belt holder now. I have a favorite Buck knife too. Favorite Pet: Any current dog....or cat..... and of course my dearly beloved but unfortunately departed horse! Miss him!!! The geese are pretty funny too. And Nigies are great. (goats) Favorite Camping Spot: Colorado and Hana area on Maui. Favorite Place to take a Vacation: Maui to see our family Favorite Garden Seeds/Plants: sweet peas Favorite Comfort item: Ultra soft velvety blankets

Ignore "quote" box. I've got fumble fingers and have no idea where that came from. Slow day today. Was meant to be. Rained quite a bit but not a gusher. Our pond has overflowed on the east side. Ducks/geese are just fine. AND we have a water critter this year. Saw it last nite while talking to my mom. Tonite dog and I did a long circuit of walking: Up the HILL next to parking area. Down steep side to driveway. Wow...that heavy snow ripped a lot of big tree branches down last month. I pulled one off the fence between us and neighbors. Then dog and I went down the road a bit. Not far tho and turned to come back. Passing by the pond, we heard a *SLAP* and great rings spread out from the center of the pond to the outer edges. Yep, beaver. Haven't had one in a long time. Hmph....just don't block up the under-driveway culvert! S/He comes out to play after we put our birds in. Would be so cute to have babies. So mom has been to hospital overnight and was back home the next day...yesterday. It always disorients her and wears her out. The really high blood pressure helped that too. Tonite she was a bit disoriented cuz she'd just gone to lay down again. Told her what day, time, etc and as we talked, she was clear. Even gave her idea for what she'd make herself for supper: sliced tomatoes and cukes. With a Miracle Whip dressing. I decided to make a small serving of that too. Iowa Farm Food. She was disappointed to wake up in horribly fatigued state this morning. She and Niece were scheduled to go to some art show and the day was nice. But no one thot it would happen after even just the one night hospital stay -- changed her BP med. BP was ok today. Sounds like a VERY productive day, Jeepers! And time with family! You're gonna get this move done yet, gal!!! MtRider

Whole weekend with nothing on the schedule. DH needs to rest...for the upcoming events. Well, it's going to be stretching even my newly recovered energy too...despite the red pills. Walked dog and got further down the road this evening. Still doing my PT exercises before bed. Trying to remember to breathe deeply for O2 to my brain... MtRider ...and to get to bed earlier....

for Jeepers and family on this big moving project for MrMiki's upcoming ordeal for the baby watch over in Washington (right?) LittleSister ....to find a better doc and get her meds straightened out. And for GS to find a way to get off the drugs/vaping. Esp drugs. Rode today to leave the weekend clear. Need to sort and pack for the 2 nights we'll be "in town". Poor doggie dear will be boarded for 4 days. She'll be wild when we go fetch her early Monday morning. I missed one of my red pills today. Can't take them too late or can't sleep and the time got away from me. I felt really worn out after the ride this morning early. Going to ask doc what the 'red pills' actually do?? Blessing of regular rain still in the weekly forecast. Waaaay better than wildfire! MtRider

Baby Watch...... LittleSister... so glad to hear GS was well behaved today. You could enjoy his company. Keep praying for him. I'm rushing the clock tonite. Need to log in my PT exercises yet. Well, that and actually DO THEM! But they're helping so I do them. I walked about a half mile tonite with the dog. Not as much as I used to walk but big progress in the past 3 wks. DH and I are getting things planned out for Surgery Week. Bumped my ride up to Thurs this week instead of Sat. Give us the whole weekend off. Cuz next week is going to be rough. Dog will be stuck in boarding 4 days cuz of weekend. No choice. Hope J and electrician don't want to come that week... So many appointments that week. Pre op....surgery....recovery.... But we'll get thru it. MtRider

All good news here tonite. I'm glad.....we do need that sometimes, even in the worst of times. I've been a lot less worried about my mom lately. It seems she's gotten over the shock of moving at such an older age. They were in the house here for 35 yrs. And with the home health aide, they go off to do what she feels like doing. Aide is a Christian woman younger than me. Mom says she wishes it was me and her running about.... Yeah, well....I don't do much running about and unlike the Aide, I can't really drive except places I know the streets and the speed limit isn't 60mph! But our conversations are normal again now. Let's see.....we still don't have electric in the living room. BUT....J and electrician were here all day Friday. I'd gotten everything moved enough. Electrician is a fairly big guy but yes, he could and did fit under the hospital bed to access the furthest outlet. Tried replacing it and nothing worked. {J and I kept telling him that this property is ALWAYS WEIRD! } He's a friend of J/B's. B is still in bed but getting slowly better. So after investigating other outlets, a bunch of wires were stuffed into the living room one. That kept him busy sorting for a while. J and I were the comms......he's say turn power on.... I'd go to holler to J. Then turn power off..... It was a long day and we were all up and down the stairs and the goat pen hill cuz power box is in back of house. He finally found the problem - in a metal box in the ceiling of the basement. pssst! Our "slip" was showing! I didn't think he'd need to see the basement. So when we had to move some stuff down there to get him on the ladder......several cases of store canned goods were visible. J already knows about the Chaos Camouflaged back pantry room. Oh well. Anyway, the part that's broken isn't made/used anymore. So he has to bring stuff out to get it up to code. They'll be back........ I moved the cord to the hospital bed this morning. Woke at 6am with a whopper of a headache. I really don't get them much these last few years. I usually push the button and set the bed more upright....laying down makes it much worse. But I got up, ate PB and banana half sandwich so I could take Nuprin. After the headache eased, I moved the cord to an outlet that does work in that room. Got a couple more hours sleep. Needed it! Felt fine when I got up at 10:30. As has been usual lately, the day after I ride is not going to be very energetic. Add headache...not doing much today. We listen to a pastor from Hawai'i . I did walk the dog tonite and got further down the road. Not my "normal" distance yet. After sitting on the porch resting for quite a while...oye! I was hobbling. Brain was not connecting to my legs. But that went away. Want cardio so I get more O2 to my brain!! MtRider ....trying to break the 1-2AM sleeping habit .... ...again!

Wow, Ladies!!! Just catching up on this thread for the past many days. It's been like reading a suspense novel. Becca Anne and company traveling across the country -- trying to get to West Coast before baby arrives. Did they make it in time??? Poor little Peanut getting stung by a bee. Sounds like that turned out okay...right Miki? Jeepers on her voyage to Indy and back. Missed an exit. Stopped by the house to plow thru the mess again. All sorts of details to get done by "yesterday".... Annarchy with severe allergy- odor issues and a lot of clean-up AND now MIL had a mini-tornado rip off shingles. Well, insurance will be paying for a new roof and that can't be all bad. Hope the roofers do a real good job! Good timing that she was home by then to immediately get someone on the problem! Ambergris....THE MOVE! Stay tuned for the finale of that! Midnight and her now-forbidden outdoor plants? Whats up with that! Sorry to hear you have a son with serious issues too. Little Sister got the prize for Most Suspense. And he walked out peacefully? Lotta prayer has been sent regarding THAT situation...for months now! ....BUT.... DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN, friend! And dear ones.....I am not kidding at all. We're all facing a lot of strain recently. Some of it good stuff...grandbabies. Others are not pleasant but less serious than some are experiencing. It is so good to have friends (tho we may never see in person), praying and offering wise counsel, and sharing our own experience with very similar issues! It's kinda rare in real life anymore. Cuz we do move around so much...we lose our friends and need new ones. Some of us have been on MrsS for decades by now. It means something to be able to share our frustrations, burdens and perplexities of life with others who will understand. Not think we're the crazy ones.....or the mean ones....or whatever. Y'all mean a lot to me....especially the past few years when DH and I have struggled with my folks' elder issues.....and now with both DH and I having medical issues. You all have been encouragement and information for me. I wanna thank all of you. ....and I'm up late tonite to finish reading the endings [happily] to some of these stories!!!!! ...did Becca Anne make it in time for the birth? Stay tuned to Watcha Doing Today at MrsS.com. MtRider .....have to go make me some Sleepytime tea and calm down already! Sheeesh!

Annarchy, Is MILs area safe? So many things going on. Can't even keep up with the weather news....let alone other news pertinent to our safety, supply needs, roads closed, or local troubles. We don't go far from home unless something absolutely has to be obtained from the large town. Some medical specialists, procedures, etc. Airport, of course but after 2022, I'm not looking at any flights any time soon. After riding and doing my PT exercises last nite, I did sleep as soon as I went to bed. My hip didn't hurt tho it's a focus of some of the exercises. I didn't do as many reps on that side....first week of doing them. So.... Doing breathing exercises for the cognitive homework too. Want my brain back! MtRider

Well.....it was difficult but I got up this morning to get ready to ride. My hip is bothering me so sleep was late again. But it was okay on the ride, mostly. Have to look up which P.T. exercises I'm supposed to be doing. Gave me two strengths of stretchy bands. But I'm doing the homework for the cognitive improvement too. Suddenly, I seem to be quite busy! Not progressing well on Clutter Cleaning . I'm getting a lot more energy to do things but it's such a big job to clear things....ya hafta be in the right mindset. Right? I'm just trying not to fall asleep right now - 3:30pm. Auck. What was the computer button I'm supposed to press if the cursor disappears? When it happened again, I'd already forgotten. MtRider ....rain....lots of rain.

Wow...lotta rain here. We'll take it!! Had an earlier appt for P.T. open up so I went in today. Wise to dress in shorts/tank top...despite CHILL rain. I just slipped off the outer layer of sweatpants and raincoat. Also wise to dedicate a new pair of tennis shoes [thrift store but brand new] for working out there. It was pouring rain the whole drive there but sunny after I got out. Rain again now. I'm finding PT and especially the "restore-brain guy" to be very interesting. R hip definitely has a problem but otherwise pretty good. Riding regularly works core muscles and legs. I've always had good flexibility and still have most of that. Not gonna try dropping into side-splits from standing ... Used to. AND my martial arts training really helps with my odd balance now. Still making a bit of progress on Clutter Clearing between medical appts. I've uncovered carpet I haven't seen in ...... too long! Still a long ways to go....the never-ending story! MtRider

for Jeepers safe and productive Indy trip!!!! Wow, I'm drooling over those shelves with my Clutter Clearing project going on. But....too many medical bills right now. Wow.....I'm just catching up on these posts. Some of you are going to have fantastic gardens ...if the critters, bugs, weather, neighbors cooperate. Yay, for the nasty neighbors gone from next door to Becca Anne! Good luck and be careful with the raccoons, Kappy and C S Mary! Being from up north, I'm sure you know raccoons carry rabies [ meaning they are one of the animals that lives with rabies long enough to be a real problem in spreading that dreaded disease around....skunks too ] And tho adorable masked critters, they can be NASTY! I always wanted one for a pet, growing up in Iowa. Didn't get that wish. Termites, Miki. I think that's what people in Hawai'i tent the homes to get rid of. Warm climates. Lot of pests don't survive altitude or winter here. Kills the geckos too, tho no one intends that. They're cute little bug-eaters! (most do not sell car insurance tho) Good luck. I'm so tired and it's late. I've had some very encouraging news about MS. But ....later... MtRider ... (anyone else try the sleep routine yet? Realllly helped me! )