Well, well, well. Look at this. My last post was on December 13 and this one will be on December 31. The two numbers are the same, just reversed. SO WHAT! You say. Hey it's the kind of thing I notice.
And it is the last day of the year 2009. Next year is 2010 and I'm looking the big 6-0 right square in the face. Don't look too bad unless I use a mirror. (ugh! especially in the morning. Rearrange that mop on top of your head girl!)
This is when we are supposed to make resolutions to do better next year. I decided some time ago that the best resolution for me to make is to not make any resolutions. It's one of the few, other than to eat when I'm hungry, that I have a chance of keeping.
This past year has been as ho-hum as any other. I don't lead an exciting life. I did help my friend Peg by doing some drawings for a kids book she might get published next year. I've gotten a bit better at moving around. But I doubt I can ever again spend an 8 plus hour day walking or standing around on a hard concrete floor. Heck even sitting still at a computer like I do to read my e-mails, mess around on Face book, and write these witty (he, he, he!) lines gets to me when I have to get up and eeeeyow! my left knee doesn't want to work and tells me about it.
Next year will, hopefully be better.
Next year maybe I will get my seeds started in time to have a decent harvest of something besides cucumbers. ( Though my refrigerator bread and butter pickles were awesome if I do say so myself. And I should as there isn't one little chunk of those tasty things left!) Perhaps I can even convince myself to plant a fruit tree or two for harvisting a season or so down the road. I'd really like to plant some asparagus as well. Love that stuff but can't afford it much at the store. Which is understandable as the plant just won't listen to the big food combines and insists on doing things it's way. (It's usually two to three years before you can get a couple of asparagus spears from one plant and it doesn't take to replanting very well unless you are far more careful than a machine can ever be.)
I've spotted some big plastic, wire encased, square shaped 'barrels' that, if I can come up with the cash, I could turn into 'rain barrels' or cisterns. Of course then I'd have to find a way to catch the run off from my house and barns to direct it into them. Yes, I'd want more than one.
The problem, as always, is money. sigh. Now that I can no longer do a lot of the stuff I want done myself I have to ask, beg or hire others to do them for me. Be great if I ever win that big money from Publishers Clearing House but you know how that goes.
As for tonight and the New Years Eve celebrations. If I weren't a member of the local Vol. Fire Dept. I'd be setting here at home in front of a flickering TV snoring through the ball dropping in New York and even in Dallas. Then I'd snort awake, take the dog for a walk and go to bed.
But being a member of the VFD I will be with my fellow members of the department at the fire house, munching on pot luck goodies (I'm baking some cookies a little later to take), drinking non-alcoholic beverages, playing various games and waiting. Just waiting. Waiting for friends and neighbors to do something really stupid. Things like drive home drunk from a really rad party. Um. Make that TRY to drive home. Then there are the ones who get snockered and decide to celebrate by shooting their guns into the air, forgetting, in their inebriated state, that what goes up also comes down and can go through roofs...and bodies. Don't forget the ones who just have to have fireworks. Fireworks they may be too drunk to use responsibly. Fireworks that can hurt them or work just fine and set a neighbors house or pasture on fire instead.
Of course it has been real wet around here the past few days so the danger of grass fire's is not so great. House fires on the other hand are more likely as folks, especially if they are partying, can get clumsy with candles, fireplaces and/or wood stoves or even space heaters.
So the VFD has its own little, dry, party and we wait. We wait for the call's we really hope don't come. We'd all much rather stay in the warm, dry firehouse and munch on goodies and drink tea and sparkling grape juice. Yeah, that would be much better than being out in the cold and wet cutting a friend or neighbor out of a crashed vehicle or putting out a house fire, or any other of a lot of things we could end up having to do.
Hmmm. Just reread this. I really do need more sunlight.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Well Ain't That a Kick in the Arm.
I can now honestly and faithfully report that getting the crap kicked out of you by a horse is NOT FUN. It HURTS. It is also scary, chilling even. If that twelve hundred or so pound beast had kicked just six or seven inches higher he'd have smashed his muddy hoof into my face.
Big dumb cottonpickin' &*^# freaking $^%*! HORSE.
Note please that in none of the above (not even in the suggested vulgarity) did I say Stupid. That epithet I reserve for myself.
After all I was the one who did not observe the beast closely enough to realize that he was restive or starting to 'feel his oats' and was thus surprised into just standing there turned slightly to my left with my right arm pulled up over the right side of my chest as the beast brushed by on that side.
The good thing about that is I have two big nasty bruises, one on my forearm and the other on my upper arm where his hoof hit me instead of a bigger hoof shaped bruise on my right boob.
The bad part is he hit me hard enough to knock me down on ground that was, at the time, as hard as brick and I landed badly on my left wrist. A wrist now decorated with an ugly big black brace that the Dr. tells me I must wear until the fourth of January.
The brace does help keep the hairline fracture in one of the many tiny wrist bones from hurting much and the pain meds prescribed do a fairly decent job not only on the wrist but on the back, shoulder and assorted other aches and pains that showed up shortly after the incident. But nothing helps me cope with trying to type with the thing on.
I've recently stopped taking that medicine however, and switched to a plain OTC pain killer as I just don't like the idea of taking anything with a narcotic in it.
Don't know if it's the narcotic I don't trust (Think of the old Native American tales of either the Scorpion or the Rattle Snake) or if it is myself that I don't trust with the narcotic.
Oh, some of you may not have heard of either of those tales. They are cautionary tales, both of them, and follow the same general story line. Basically an innocent, either a young warrior or larger animal comes across one of the poisonous two I mentioned above. I believe that with the snake it is a young warrior on his spirit quest that finds a rattle snake high up on a mountain, nearly frozen. He starts to leave the snake there to die but it speaks to him and begs him to take it down to the valley where it can survive promising that it will not bite him if he saves it's life. So the young warrior puts the nearly frozen snake inside his shirt and starts down the mountain. The snake soon warms up while riding there and, as soon as it can move, it bites the young warrior. The warrior cry out as he falls, "Why did you do this you foolish snake! We are still far up the mountain! I will die of your poison and you will surely freeze and die as well!" The snake replies, "True. But I am a rattle snake and you knew what I was when you picked me up!"
The tail of the scorpion is much the same only, as I remember it is a wolf or some such that a Scorpion convinces to carry it across a flooded river. Half way across the scorpion stings the beast carrying it. The stung critter says "Why did you sting me! Now we both will drown!" To which the scorpion replies. "I only did what it was in me to do. You knew I was a scorpion when you agreed to carry me."
Much the same can be said, I suppose, for me and that horse. I knew it was a big beast. That much was obvious. I also knew that he had been penned up in a smaller area than he needed while a painful hoof was being doctored. A hoof that he wasn't limping on near as much as he had been. If I had been paying attention I might have already let the fellow out into the larger pasture where he could run and burn off those oats he expended by kicking me. Instead I went about my chores as I had been doing them during the time the horse was being kept up.
That is one of the things that we humans really must remember. Especially about our fellow critters that happen to be either/and/ or bigger, heavier, stronger than us or even with sharp claws and teeth. They have their view of the world and what should happen in it.
Horses like to 'play' and often do so by bumping past each other and letting their hooves fly 'knowing' that the other 'horse' will of course start running and bucking as well. I was not another horse but a rather clumsy, fat, slow, old human too startled to move. So instead of first shying away and then running and bucking along, I got kicked in the arm.
I knew what kind of critter I was walking into a pen with, I had just not been observant enough to realize that said critter had become restless.
So here I am, trying to type with a brace on my left wrist.
At least it wasn't a kick in the head.
(Note to any who may have read the tales I mentioned above: I'm doing this whole thing from memory. If I quoted too much to not say more about where I got those stories, please let me know the book they are in etc. Firstly so I can come back to this blog and make note of it and secondly so I can look the book up at the library and read it again. At least I don't think I own the book I read them in. Hmmm. Maybe I'll start rummaging around in the boxes of books I still haven't unpacked. As I remember that was an interesting book...now what was it called...)
Big dumb cottonpickin' &*^# freaking $^%*! HORSE.
Note please that in none of the above (not even in the suggested vulgarity) did I say Stupid. That epithet I reserve for myself.
After all I was the one who did not observe the beast closely enough to realize that he was restive or starting to 'feel his oats' and was thus surprised into just standing there turned slightly to my left with my right arm pulled up over the right side of my chest as the beast brushed by on that side.
The good thing about that is I have two big nasty bruises, one on my forearm and the other on my upper arm where his hoof hit me instead of a bigger hoof shaped bruise on my right boob.
The bad part is he hit me hard enough to knock me down on ground that was, at the time, as hard as brick and I landed badly on my left wrist. A wrist now decorated with an ugly big black brace that the Dr. tells me I must wear until the fourth of January.
The brace does help keep the hairline fracture in one of the many tiny wrist bones from hurting much and the pain meds prescribed do a fairly decent job not only on the wrist but on the back, shoulder and assorted other aches and pains that showed up shortly after the incident. But nothing helps me cope with trying to type with the thing on.
I've recently stopped taking that medicine however, and switched to a plain OTC pain killer as I just don't like the idea of taking anything with a narcotic in it.
Don't know if it's the narcotic I don't trust (Think of the old Native American tales of either the Scorpion or the Rattle Snake) or if it is myself that I don't trust with the narcotic.
Oh, some of you may not have heard of either of those tales. They are cautionary tales, both of them, and follow the same general story line. Basically an innocent, either a young warrior or larger animal comes across one of the poisonous two I mentioned above. I believe that with the snake it is a young warrior on his spirit quest that finds a rattle snake high up on a mountain, nearly frozen. He starts to leave the snake there to die but it speaks to him and begs him to take it down to the valley where it can survive promising that it will not bite him if he saves it's life. So the young warrior puts the nearly frozen snake inside his shirt and starts down the mountain. The snake soon warms up while riding there and, as soon as it can move, it bites the young warrior. The warrior cry out as he falls, "Why did you do this you foolish snake! We are still far up the mountain! I will die of your poison and you will surely freeze and die as well!" The snake replies, "True. But I am a rattle snake and you knew what I was when you picked me up!"
The tail of the scorpion is much the same only, as I remember it is a wolf or some such that a Scorpion convinces to carry it across a flooded river. Half way across the scorpion stings the beast carrying it. The stung critter says "Why did you sting me! Now we both will drown!" To which the scorpion replies. "I only did what it was in me to do. You knew I was a scorpion when you agreed to carry me."
Much the same can be said, I suppose, for me and that horse. I knew it was a big beast. That much was obvious. I also knew that he had been penned up in a smaller area than he needed while a painful hoof was being doctored. A hoof that he wasn't limping on near as much as he had been. If I had been paying attention I might have already let the fellow out into the larger pasture where he could run and burn off those oats he expended by kicking me. Instead I went about my chores as I had been doing them during the time the horse was being kept up.
That is one of the things that we humans really must remember. Especially about our fellow critters that happen to be either/and/ or bigger, heavier, stronger than us or even with sharp claws and teeth. They have their view of the world and what should happen in it.
Horses like to 'play' and often do so by bumping past each other and letting their hooves fly 'knowing' that the other 'horse' will of course start running and bucking as well. I was not another horse but a rather clumsy, fat, slow, old human too startled to move. So instead of first shying away and then running and bucking along, I got kicked in the arm.
I knew what kind of critter I was walking into a pen with, I had just not been observant enough to realize that said critter had become restless.
So here I am, trying to type with a brace on my left wrist.
At least it wasn't a kick in the head.
(Note to any who may have read the tales I mentioned above: I'm doing this whole thing from memory. If I quoted too much to not say more about where I got those stories, please let me know the book they are in etc. Firstly so I can come back to this blog and make note of it and secondly so I can look the book up at the library and read it again. At least I don't think I own the book I read them in. Hmmm. Maybe I'll start rummaging around in the boxes of books I still haven't unpacked. As I remember that was an interesting book...now what was it called...)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Apologies!
Sorry! Just realized that I've skipped a whole month! And I can't even use the excuse of being busy getting ready for the holiday's as I'm to flat busted broke to do more than get a few (very few) cheap (very cheap) gifts for just the folks I see the most often.
No! One is not going to be for my shrink! Though sometimes I wonder if I might not need one really bad.
I know! I can blame it on the season this way. I can note that I've started wanting to sleep up to 10 hours a day now that it's getting cold and dreary and I see far less sun than I used to. What do they call it. It has some fancy name...seasonal depression? Nah. It's called something fancier than that I think.
It's supposed to be caused by the absence of enough sun light during the winter. It causes you to not want to move much, so you just stay in, eat and sleep. It's great for gaining weight. I just usually say that I'm just an old bear and that wants to hibernate.
It's what I feel like sometimes.
Yeah. I know! I should get one of those full spectrum lights and sit or work under it whenever it's cloudy out and after the sun goes down when it's not. Sigh.
All I can say to that is what part of the first part of this blog did you not understand. You remember, the part about being without a lot of extra cash. (Umm. make that Grouchy Old Bear. )
Well, it's not raining at the moment, maybe if I take my dog out for walkies that should make us both happy...at least for a while. Sigh.
I hate cold, wet and dreary. I could solve the problem if I were rich. I'd just pack up the critters and move down to the equator or some such. Down near sea level or far enough above to stay away from tsunami's and such. And hurricanes. But then there's the bugs and the guerrillas (not the gorillas). Oh, man, see what I mean.
Heck with it. I'm going for a walk.
No! One is not going to be for my shrink! Though sometimes I wonder if I might not need one really bad.
I know! I can blame it on the season this way. I can note that I've started wanting to sleep up to 10 hours a day now that it's getting cold and dreary and I see far less sun than I used to. What do they call it. It has some fancy name...seasonal depression? Nah. It's called something fancier than that I think.
It's supposed to be caused by the absence of enough sun light during the winter. It causes you to not want to move much, so you just stay in, eat and sleep. It's great for gaining weight. I just usually say that I'm just an old bear and that wants to hibernate.
It's what I feel like sometimes.
Yeah. I know! I should get one of those full spectrum lights and sit or work under it whenever it's cloudy out and after the sun goes down when it's not. Sigh.
All I can say to that is what part of the first part of this blog did you not understand. You remember, the part about being without a lot of extra cash. (Umm. make that Grouchy Old Bear. )
Well, it's not raining at the moment, maybe if I take my dog out for walkies that should make us both happy...at least for a while. Sigh.
I hate cold, wet and dreary. I could solve the problem if I were rich. I'd just pack up the critters and move down to the equator or some such. Down near sea level or far enough above to stay away from tsunami's and such. And hurricanes. But then there's the bugs and the guerrillas (not the gorillas). Oh, man, see what I mean.
Heck with it. I'm going for a walk.
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