Mt_Rider

Oye....weather has been the topic here. Saturday it was rain/snow/graupel. Supposed to get real cold but didn't...20*. Woke up to 5" of snow Sunday. Continued to snow off and on. DH says he saw MINUS 6* during the night. Ack....a week or so ago, we broke high temp records for that day. No...wasn't that hot but just for late October weather - it was marvelous! Halloween weather has traditionally been awful. All the little ghosts and goblins are big and round with thick coats under their costumes. We're at 10* at midnight here now. I anticipated the need for the pellet stove....so all the sorting STUFF I'd shoved all around it all summer - had to move. Stupid new furnace cannot heat the place enough. So ...at least I have another area clear and normal again. Course the ducks and goose are not happy that last nite froze their pond. We've been so warm they've had extra time this year. They'll spend the rest of the winter staring at the frozen pond from their pen. Springtime, birds. Wait till Spring! I finally finished stripping the leaves and flower parts off the yarrow I harvested/dried for my MO friend for tinctures. She's been able to get herself off most pharm meds and is doing better. She's sending me some tinctures already made. Yanno? I carried this HUGE and HEAVY 'bouquet' of those plants up this hill. After drying and remove stems, the rest fit into two almost filled quart Ziplocks. Hmph! Cheap to send...weighs almost nothing. BUT....that project is finally out of the way. Cuz they were hanging upside down along the fireplace - pellet stove. So they had to go. Missed my ride this weekend due to nasty Sat. weather. Stables closed down for the weekend. But I'm doing ok. Still fatigue stuff. Miki....mom hadn't been eating well. Too much of the same stuff and she doesn't want to light her gas oven. Meals on Wheels are getting old. Bro and DH and I talked about getting her interested in food. So her caretaker (comes 4 days a week for varied hours) is cooking some things with her. And they do go out to eat. Mom was enthused about variation in meals. She gets bored on the days P doesn't come. My folks used to go somewhere every day but Sunday. Bro and Niece are both working and have upkeep on the farm and Bro's boat. They had NO idea what they were getting into...Mom with no transportation except P. And she hasn't joined a church...no transportation. She hasn't really gotten to know anyone much. She's a bit shy to just go knock on a door to visit her near neighbors. I call every night...... ...tonite she didn't answer. We usually talk from around 9:30 - 11:30pm her time. That's right during cooking/eating supper my time but I work around it. I emailed Bro...he said she'd been asleep in chair when he talked to her earlier so she probably went to bed. We are wondering.... if she needs more time with her caretaker..... Expensive but so is a care home...which she'd hate. End of life stuff is hard!!!! MtRider .... ...yeah, I'm changing my bedtime to 12:30am. Have been missing the 11:30pm

Glad to see you back, Necie! Have a wonderful trip. Wow...everyone around here is getting new babies arriving. Well, not all of us. Very low energy day but I did manage to walk dog 3/10ths of a mile. That's down our driveway and on the road to the next driveway an- d back to the car. DH puts the birds inside for the night and I really wasn't going to walk back UP the driveway. Good thing this week is empty. Don't have to be anywhere. Mom was confused tonite. I woke her up- sleeping in her chair. She kept thinking it was morning and her helper would be coming soon. I traced her back to when P did arrive this morning and cooked her breakfast. We were on track for a while and then she'd veer off again. I do not want to lose her that way either. Going to bed soon. Got up too early this morning with headache but DH adjusted me so maybe that pattern will stop. MtRider

Necie!!! And where have you BEEN??? and I see you brought your annoying little BUG with you! I'm always squishing knats on my screen! Plenty of chocolate around this group! MtRider ...welcome home!

I should .....with all the spare energy I have........dehydrate more frozen veggies. That's easy too. MtRider

Hi everyone. Speaking of non-productive....this has not been my best day for functioning. Didn't even try to walk dog tonite. I did manage to reheat the sweet/sour pork and the rice for supper. Been taking/sending prayer requests too. One of our older members has the 'C'...so we pray that his wife doesn't come down with it. It's getting less and less strong as the virus shifts to softer variants of itself. You're getting there, Jeepers. Quality time with little GS is worth the trip. I hope you find your house is coming right along so you could at least live in it instead of the hotel. You'd have an oven and stove top and .... I had to snicker just a tiny bit about your hammering holes in the wall. How big was the hammer? Might want to get a smaller hammer head so the control is better with small stuff. ...we've got a "patched" place in our bathroom. I had a stick-on hook to hang my hairdryer. Eventually (I might have put a couple more things like hair straightener/curler on the same hook...) it came off, taking a bit of wall with it. The patch needs to be sanded and painted. First I'd have to FIND a sander. Don't think I took home any from Dad's collection. And Jeepers? Your ear incident does not sound good. Please do get it checked soon! I may have to voyage over to the bigger town to get my R ear checked. Maybe the hearing aid is going too far into the ear and the connecting 'cord' needs to be shortened just a smidge? Dunno, but DrDH looked into my ear twice now and the tympanic membrane is red. I feel like scratching my ear like dogs do..... Itch/pain. Just one MORE thing to do, right? Momo...so sorry you feel like you're not progressing. My grief counselor told me many times that everyone grieves in their own ways and on their own timetables. No one else can tell you how to grieve. It also varies but I'm quite sure that spouse is one of the very hardest. LittleSister...You are in such a better place than you were 6 months ago. You've got control of your own house and GS is learning how to behave like a young man. Keep it up. And such a LOT you've done around your house and gardens, etc. Enjoy new Grgrandbaby Isn't that just like husbands? Now I realllly want to have the energy to run down there (with car, not literally RUN) and harvest again. I'll have to bring them inside or the nocturnal thieves on my porch will steal them again. Tincture sounds easy to make with few rules to be careful of. MtRider .....

Oye...takes me forever to catch up again. This week...... ....I don't think there's anything on the calendar for me...except hopefully a ride Sat. I've been in a much heavier schedule than I'm used to. Which means events leaving house 3-4x per wk. Doesn't sound much for all of you go-getters! Fall Fatigue has not made it easier. Once I get towards December .... or even November, it (whatever Fall Fatigue is...) goes away as uneventfully as it comes. MS folks get that drained out feeling in the Fall.....and many get it in the Spring too. Something in the change of seasons is stressing us out. (altho I'm not an "us" with MS anymore. Bit hard to remember that....but it must be somewhat similar.) Had a good ride on Sat. Last week I FROZE but this week we were breaking heat records for that day. I was wearing a tank top and wishing for shorts instead of jeans. So goes the mountain weather! Our lovely golden aspens are already bare here. Just a bit lower in altitude, it still shines with them tho. The days are really pleasant but I'd like some rain......wildfire insurance. You all are so ambitious. I'm trying to get the harvested/dried yarrow stripped from the stems and sent to my MO friend. I was planning to harvest more mullein on my way back from Bible study on Wed...cuz the porch varmints STOLE my last harvest. Well THAT didn't happen. One of the ladies had to drive me, in my car, home. Since her husband had been at church too, he followed us and was able to get her home from there. I somehow sat in the regular chairs around the big table during the study [hour and half] instead of sitting in my wheelchair as I usually do. I automatically rock back and forth and keep my legs moving {fidgeting} so that when I go to stand, my legs are still working. This time....uh oh! Muscles esp, in R leg locked in position. I got me and stuff out to my car by transferring over to the wheelchair. But I usually walk behind it and have my HEAVY (enough for TEOTWAWKI in there!) purse and bag with Bible/book etc. on the wheelchair seat. So as I was trembling and not steady, the ladies immediately helped me put wheelchair in rear and asked if I was going to be able to drive. I "fell" into the seat and said: I'll know in a minute. Tried to get the "frozen" stiff R leg to work the gas/brake. "Uh uh. This isn't going to work". So I hoisted myself backwards over the console and into the other front seat. Then pulled my awkward leg over and got situated. I try to be as independent as possible but driving with very tight thigh muscles on driving leg....nope. It eventually let loose. But P and I had a good time talking on my way home. Her dh was the one who taught the 1st Aid/CPR that I took. There are so many attending now that I don't know anymore. So that's been my exciting week. Glad to read that everyone's doing well. for Annarchy going home - or has arrived. For Jeepers coming back home now or soon. For Miki's dh. For Little Sister's shoulder....take care of it! And for GS to continue his good behavior. Becca Anne....I love getting organized. I'm envious. I did get a few things sorted this week. No where to put what I sorted tho... MtRider ...off to bed

Peak Illumination, Astronomy, and Moon Illusion The best time for viewing this year’s Hunter's Moon will be during peak illumination on Saturday, Oct. 28. Yet the nights on either side—on Oct. 27 and 29—will look pretty good, too, as the moon won't have moved much. The full moon reaches its zenith at 4:24 p.m. EDT when it will be below the horizon viewed from North America. So you’ll have to wait until sunset for it to rise. Full moons only occur when the sun and moon are directly on opposite sides of the Earth, which is why when one rises the other is always setting. Notably, this year's Hunter's Moon will have a planetary companion. Our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, will appear shining brightly right under it. Their apparent proximity is a mere illusion, however; Jupiter is actually 1500 times farther away than our moon. https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/full-hunters-moon-set-to-grace-the-autumn-night-sky-in-october-2023-all-you-need-to-know-5513228?utm_source=Bright&src_src=Bright&utm_campaign=bright-2023-10-22&src_cmp=bright-2023-10-22&utm_medium=email&cta_utm_source=Bright&est=AqyK%2Bhd0izFY6UFhok41Rbe3TLl3SZC1cRFpmQFmcNFdV6Lp2btDSrJ92xNKPLJGaA%3D%3D Should be a great illuminating effect if your areas have clear skies. MtRider

I think I'm late again....... Happy Birthday Pixie MtRider

Wow, Kappy! How is your back and other health concerns doing? C. Mary and her hens. I agree about the egg storage. We've used waterglass for years in our cool basement with good results. We did try store-bought cuz.....C0vid and just then we were between flocks. We use a lot too. Well, waterglass worked for a month with the store bought....maybe. Not going to work for us. So DH ordered some baby birds again. Couple years ago. We have 4 ducks and 1 goose. I hope it's the female. Never did figure out between those two. But something nailed the other goose recently. Had a long, fun day Friday and rode Sat. but today. Fall Fatigue is stealing the energy advantage that the new med has given me. Just handwashing a few small items of clothing had my hands shaking so bad I could barely get the fork in my mouth. { grumble...wear goggles before I put my eye out!} It's SO hard to get anything done in the fall due to that. And so much to get ready for our winters!!! Well, DH was finally able to get straw bales for the duckhouse. I had started to cut some of the very tall (we had rain and no horses ) grass in the pasture for them. A/C unit is out of the window and back in the box in basement. I washed up a bunch of eggs for us to use from the fridge upstairs. Like Kappy said: only put unwashed 'clean' FRESH ones in the waterglass and we've got 2 buckets full already. Meanwhile DH was trying to find things in the Chaos Cammo. Distressed over the M.E. situation...... A lot is not being told, of course. And now our Prez is there.....we don't need something to happen to him there .....whether we vote for him or not. That would be catastrophic! Such sorrow over there for all human beings. {to clarify, I believe some are no longer fully human .....in personally doing what was done to babies, etc.} MtRider

Thanks, Annarchy!

Jeepers....I'm siding with Mother and Becca Anne. My ears are sensitive and I'd have thrown that device across the room! DH has the metal cup and syringe thing. Warm water! But I don't usually have much build up. I still cringe when he does it. Don't like things in my ears and now I have hearing aids in both. Took one out today cuz it felt a bit sore by afternoon. But that much pain...something is not right. So sorry you went thru that. Once you get to Indy, you've gotta find some GOOD medical people! Kind and friendly AND COMPETENT. They are a gold mine if you can keep them. Have a safe trip and we'll see ya later. Annarchy...oye! The whole house both days? Better give yourself a break now.....before you're so tired you break something. Nice that it's done tho, huh? LittleSister...enjoy that baby!!! Euphrasyne...I'm imagining a cute teeny-tiny ghost! Miki....good thing there are folks like you that do grab that after-party trash before it blows all over everywhere. I got to go out to have lunch with a friend yesterday. A long [beautiful warm sunny ] day cuz I rode into town early with DH who meets his client at Sr. Bingo. He helps her with her cards. Belatedly realized that DH and I definitely qualify for SENIOR Bingo....so I played ONE card. Less stress!! Then DH dropped me at our meeting-friend location and he went off to client's house. Client gets a Sr ride to Bingo and back. My friend lives quite far from here but we got to know each other before we moved here. We had a great girl talk day. Then she dropped me off where the seniors get rides and she went one way home and I went the other. Glad for those senior rides....not just for medical appt tho that is priority. Then I was on the horse today. 20* this morning at my house. By our 11am ride, it was warmed up a bit but my toes froze in the boots. Was pretty chilled when I got back in car to go home. Wrapped my toes in my down vest. But we'll have nicer days before the snow gets deep. MtRider ...hot cocoa!

Always glad when you've got time for MrsS, Dogmom! MtRider .....I saved you and

Well I was on a horse today and.....we didn't notice ANY sign of solar eclipse. I actually forgot all about it..... {I want my brain back!} MtRider ....who froze today on the horse. Moon blocking our great CO solar rays!

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/where-when This site tells it's track across the western U.S. particularly.....and when you'll need to block your eyes. Ambergris..it will hit your area too. ....solar glasses only. Sunglasses are not strong enough to look at it. MtRider

Wow....I missed that too. That's HUGE! A most EXCELLENT prep!!! I can relate to the sleep thing, Little Sister. Here I am at 1:30am....still catching up with MrsS. I didn't realize I'm behind again. Where are the days going? So I'm saying a quick and ....almost. Still have to catch up with Ambergris in Ecuador... MtRider ...soon tho

MtRider ...amid all the turmoil, new life goes on..... for tiny Josie and her family

to Great Granddaughter! MtRider

Hi everyone. Good to hear you're all feeling better Becca Anne. Everyone else is status quo. I had a lovely ride on Sat. Sky was our special Colorado BLUE with no clouds. Warm. And the aspens are golden right now. No rain to beat them down and turn black too fast. Course.....leaf season means more traffic, esp weekends. I'm having a rough time with fatigue.....but in my life, there is this thing we call Fall Fatigue Thing. I think I'm in it. The activities I'm doing now were not wearing me out as they have been the last couple of weeks. And this is certainly the season when I get that so maybe I'll ask the neurologist. It didn't help that I woke with a slight headache and it got worse. A lot worse. DH adjusted me .....still was bad so after a few hours, he did a specific click on one neck vertebrae. Then a while later it finally cleared the headache. From 7am to 5pm. Hmmph. Wasted day and it wore me out. But I did get to finish Book 3 or 4 Bobby Akart's series on life after a Solar Flare knocks out everything in NY and the region. Got the whole set of 4 for one or two dollars each. I like his books .....he does tons of research and puts in all kinds of details.....but they're short for their usual price. I get them when he has a deal. I'm running into bedtime as usual but I need to get sleep. With the headache, I need to wash and deal with my hair in the morning....before the neurologist appt in later afternoon. MtRider

The music idea is grand.....if it works. They can block the sound but that means anything you or others say would be blocked too. Someone really good with such things could probably be able to block music but not voices???? Beyond my pay grade. But such an affront should never happen again! He could have been someone SO much worse... MtRider I hope you can love your new job and the people you work with...having been there "in the trenches" THAT day!

for Oreo, MrMiki and Miki..... OW! Hold your stance, Little Sister. It's working better than before! for GS to come in to his late maturity! I'm TIRED! Got to sleep but kept waking up and up and up. Can't really tell how much sleep I got. That's an unusual problem for me. But when the alarm went off at 7am, I ignored it. Woke at quarter to 8 and then decided I'd go to Women's Bible Study. Got into my clothes, gulped down cereal and ABOUT FROZE in the car. We'd been below 30* last nite/morning. Had to drive car with DH's gloves on. Bible study was nice.....time to chat with people I've know a long time.....and half that I'm just getting to know. I'm not able to handle crowds so this is about my limit. So all the newer [like that last 15 yrs] members haven't met me until I started going to the Bible Studies again. Still trying to remember names. AND I forgot to put in my hearing aids. They really make a difference! Came home very tired and didn't even stop to pick more mullein. Just get home and eat something more. Didn't do much else except crawled out to walk dog on road this evening. She was zipping thru all the dead whatever that's grown in the ditch. All gone to fluff and seed. She was covered and I wiped her down before letting her into the car. DH drove down and he takes care of birds for the night while we walk. My gait never did straighten out....R leg barely going forward. Not a lot of good walking like that but the dog enjoyed it. DH cooked tonite. MtRider

This is shocking ...and super-worse X10 because it's happening personally to someone I know and care about. I don't even have TV so everything I get is from Internet. Saves me from looking at film clips unless I want to. So yeah, I'm insulated from much of what's happening. I do watch the news stories but .... My question is: WHO THE HELLO LET HIM INTO a secured location with sensitive data and CHILDREN who's IDs are ALWAYS protected. Heck, you employees should MUST have protection. Have we all gone INSANE? His tail should have been flapping in the breeze on the curb. IMMEDIATELY! Anyone on Facebook can claim reporter's privileges? Hmmph! I'm never on there except to see DD2's new pics of family. I'm not on anything but here. Too bad you're so new to the job! You'd have known more of what could/should have been allowed. I'd like to claim I'm speechless with horror......but I keep talking. I seem to be using this little yellow guy to speak what words cannot. As everyone has said, please be very careful. Know where back doors/side doors/all exits are. Know where you can have cover and if not that, at least decent concealment. I can't believed I just typed that advice to someone working in an office of the city govt. Has no one said....oops, that shouldn't have happened? Unbelievable! He's like a cat playing with his prey.....and thinking he's breaking a big "story" about what? Lax working environment? You have chairs at your desks to sit in? ................. I'm ranting again. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. I'm consumed with the evil that I think happened in my 'hometown' ...... so I'm not dealing with unfair, illogical, dirty, rotten, mean stuff well. You and your coworkers should not have to put up with ANY of that harassment. Backed up with those 'above' you! Anyway, for you and the rest who've been victims of a crime that probably isn't on the books. But crime it is - false accusation and invasion! Threats! MtRider ..... Evil Lurks. Be ever so careful and to the One who also abhors evil for protection.

Y'all are so busy! Just stay safe. Tomorrow is the big 'whatever' when the govt tries out it's new?? emergency broadcast system. Never really got a straight story on that. DH and I managed to get the A/C unit out of the window today. It was blowing cold air down the back of my neck from my chair. I got it all prepped to move while he was at the library. Then we also got some other things like big dogfood bags arranged - first in/first out. Couple of those are seriously HEAVY for either of us. I do use the luggage sized 2-wheel dolly...even on the stairs. That's how the A/C unit goes up and down in Spring and Fall......{with NO falling!!!} Seems like we just got that thing in and now we're cold. Was in low 30*s this morning. Several nites have frosted. Ladies' Bible study tomorrow. Ride on Saturday. That's gonna be a normal week...unlike last week. Sorry to hear about your back, Kappy. It was doing so well until.....things started breaking! And your hand too! It's hard to imagine what your house looked like when you went back to Ohio after Christmas, Jeepers. What a horror ...and you so sick already! that nothing like that ever happens to Jeepers again! Once is more than enough! MtRider ....need to walk my mile...

I AM SOOOO TIRED! Too many things in one week. And have one more tomorrow....AFTERNOON RIDE Whoooeee... I got something more than a dead horse icon. So after the ride....I'm going to try to slow down all these medical appts. Except the neurologist the next week. I made sweet sour pork in the InstantPot tonite. I'm looking up the recipes on the Internet - just for the InstantPot. Got a bit frazzled when it was getting late and birds were still out...dog and me not walked... DH came home and got birds closed in and eating. Then he took the dog down for a solo run-around and put birds into the duckhouse for the night while I'm finishing off supper. This time of year makes supper and bird/dog/walking come at the same time. In a few more weeks, the outside stuff will come first - cuz it's getting dark earlier and earlier. We've had a giant Full Harvest moon .....and there was an eclipse too but it would have arrived around 4am. I chose not to 'attend'. Glad you've got your 'digs' for another month, Jeepers. You've been thru the wringer this year and all those in charge of getting things done ...have been Less Than Helpful! MtRider ....

After DH and I had our round of COUGHING Cold recently, I asked my primary doc WHY they'd taken the "good stuff" out of the Nyquil products. ...as in "Nyquil used to work waaay better but I did research and found they'd taken out "________" ingredient. (don't remember the name, of course) She said: People were probably using it to cook meth." My mouth dropped open. You're kidding! I'm so far out of that world....it wouldn't have occurred to me. On the other hand.....IS that the reason? Or do they want the OTC formulas to be quite a bit less effective ...... ? We're already dependent enough! So anyway, I've always had an interest in herbal, go pick-your-own type approach to food and health issues. I've looked into both at various times in my life. Taking kids out and showing them edible and NOT EDIBLE or TOUCHABLE plants when I worked at camps. But lately, I've caught the 'bug' again from my MO friend. She's an RN and really diving into foraging for medicinals. Making tinctures. DH knows the herbs and nutritional supplements but wouldn't recognize any in their living form. He gets them in bottles...pills, capsules, teas. So I've harvested a lot of yarrow cuz MO friend can't find any. Almost ready to ship dry leaves and blossom ends. We're pretty remote so not near highway contamination. I've always known mullein is good for respiratory. (...bronchial ) And I recently located a whole bunch of it. So I stopped yesterday....it's in a ditch so fair game. Chopped off about 8 -9 stalks. Left them to dry on our porch. Snapped the blossom stick off the main stalk. .....and forgot to bring all that inside last nite. They were stolen! All the snapped off blossom sticks were GONE! The leaves of the main plant were chewed off! I've got an warrant out for a couple of Stellar Jays {CO version of blue jays} that were hanging around suspiciously yesterday. But with the blossom sticks completely gone, .... I think they had accomplices! Glad there's plenty more just down the road! Hmph! Can't believe your mailbox is such a target, Miki! Who gets their jollies with that? It would be so much fun to have something that spews out red paint when it's whacked! They need some comeuppance! So sorry about your whole family sick AND no success protecting your chickens, Becca Anne. Raccoons are just one of the horrible potential critters if they get started. So it probably is a good idea to set that project aside while you have to handle other things. Start again in the spring. You know you'll want them again. A neat little capsule of protein delivered daily is greatly valued if you can keep the birds safe. You go! Little Sister. Yeah, you're tackling all this stuff. And your own health. Glad you changed docs and offices. You've got the experience to know what SHOULD go on in those offices! And....good that you're keeping your foot on GS's backside when he wears out his welcome. Military might just make an adult outta him. He does seem to be ....better. And he does try to work. Some don't even try. Keep on him and get some use outta his strong young body for chores! OK..gotta go to bed. I've had events on Mon....Wed....tomorrow....and a RIDE on Saturday (thankfully afternoon this time). MtRider

Happy Bday ANewMe! MtRider... I think I'm late.