Author: montanaclarks

We aren’t night people and if that makes us old, so be it! Neither of us likes to drive at night but Saturday it was a necessity. Southwest Airlines has poor connection times going and coming from Tucson to Little Rock, Arkansas. My dear brother took me to Little Rock Saturday afternoon and I flew home to my Cowboy and little Emmi. It’s hard to say who was more glad to see me! The plane arrived at 9:45pm and by the time luggage was retrieved and we were home and in bed it was midnight–UGH! Of course we were both awake with the sun–another UGH!

The Cowboy has been having trouble sleeping much later than 5am due to barking dogs–another UGH! He’s one of those people who sleeps very lightly–years of sleeping with one eye and both ears open for loose horses in hunting camp! If the horses left, you walked and the Cowboy at that age was allergic to walking! Our windows are open at night, thus he hears the dogs. I sleep with ear plugs as I too am a light sleeper but the Cowboy can’t use earplugs. In Montana we have no neighbors and no barking dogs.

Mom and I enjoyed being together so much. We knitted a lot and she is progressing well–I also made great progress with my shawl knitting!! I cooked and we ate too well!! We shopped and dined out–I’m a better cook than any of the cooks in the restaurants where we ate! I saw cousins and aunts I haven’t seen in years–another good. Visiting with my immediate family, sharing meals–it’s all good. There is a tight bond in my family and living so far away is hard but I have a life I love with the Cowboy and Emmi–we just make it work.

I found a package of frozen blackberries in Mom’s freezer and created this amazing blackberry cobbler!

Sunday was kind of a day of rest. I unpacked, ran a few loads of laundry and bathed one grubby little pooch. Our time in Arizona is coming to a close and it will be time to head back to Montana in just a few weeks. The countdown is on to use everything in the freezers of both refrigerators. We may get a little tired of beef–not a chance said the Cowboy!

I grew up on the farm my great grandfather purchased in 1900. My grandfather inherited the farm and passed it on to my brother who still raises hay and cattle. It’s home. It’s where the majority of my immediate family lives–on the farm. This time of year the grass is vivid green, the trees are almost completely in leaf and everything is blooming–including the dang pine trees. When it rains, the puddles are yellow with pollen dust.

That’s my sister and brother in law’s house across the road from Mom’s. It was evening when I took this photo and I loved the color.

I joined the ladies (Louanne, Janice and Mo) at Linda’s Sunday afternoon for happy hour. It was great to see everyone but I faded fast–it’s going to be early to bed for me!

It seems life never slows down for this family of mine living in Arkansas. In this last year we lost three family members to non Covid illnesses. Mom’s husband Chuck died in late March in what I’ve started to refer to as the lost year–where did 2020 go?? Mom’s only remaining sister died in early April of 2020 and a cousin died shortly thereafter. No funerals happened in the lost year. On Thursday Mom and I drove to Clinton, Arkansas again (second trip in less than a week of 200 miles roundtrip) to help my aunt’s daughter Jeanette bury her mother’s ashes. We also said goodbye to my Dad’s oldest sister–her daughter is taking her to Chicago to live for a while. After we were at the cemetery we all headed to a local restaurant and enjoyed lunch and catching up.

A friend from my growing up and church years died on Monday. Joe and his family still attended the church where I grew up and that my brother in law has pastored for almost 30 years. The funeral was Friday and I helped Ann prepare food to feed the family after the funeral. Earlier in the week Danny and I were discussing the practice of taking food to the family home–a practice which I think is a southern thing. In the south when someone dies it isn’t long before friends and family are at the home bringing food and all sorts of other items. When my father died in 2002 friends were at our house almost immediately–the first couple brought us all sorts of paper goods which came in handy during that time. Is it a southern thing–it doesn’t seem to happen in Montana–does it happen in other parts of the country?

Mom and I have been cooking/eating/knitting–rinse, repeat. I’ve done a little spring cleaning in her house and we’ve spent time looking at a few old photos–

Mom was one of six daughters, and was fourth from the oldest–

Mom is in the middle top row. I think she cut her own hair and ours to match??

This is me on the left, my sister Robin Ann on the right–Mom made our dresses.

On Easter Sunday with all the church activities we lunched mid afternoon. The whole family was present and I enjoyed being with them so much. Before lunch I hid the Easter eggs for our “children” with the youngest being 16! They joyfully hunted for the eggs filled with candy and money–an added incentive! We found all but one–let’s hope it was one of the eggs that only contained candy!

The Easter basket I made for my niece–I knitted the basket, felted it and adorned it with beads. Niki is my only niece and even though she has teenagers of her own, she always gets an Easter present from her Aunt Janna.❤️

The Cowboy and Emmi are doing well–ready for me to come home. He’s been working on the cabinets and had to start the air conditioners and evaporative cooler–it’s warm, too warm for this time of year in Arizona.

Life is good.

The airports are back in business, crowded even. The airplanes are full.

Spring has arrived at least in Arkansas. The dogwoods and redbuds are blooming, the trees are leafing and the grass is growing–yep, it’s spring!

I arrived in Arkansas Wednesday afternoon with no delays. Wednesday night and into Thursday morning the skies opened, lightning popped and thunder boomed–it’s a little nerve racking to be in the south this time of year! Mom and I have hit the ground running. Thursday we headed to Malvern stopping in the tiny town of Poyen for lunch–my great niece attends school in Poyen and one of her best friends is a waitress at the 270 Grill. The food was hot and good. Our destination was Arkansas Yarn Company in downtown Malvern. A cute, bright yarn shop filled with delicious goodies!

Coming home we stopped at Walmart for our grocery pickup order. By the time we were home, the rain had stopped and patches of blue sky were visible. In the evening my niece and her girls arrived–they don’t have TV at their house and wanted to watch the premier episode of The Rambling Red Head on HGTV. Grandma has DISH so we all gathered in Mom’s living room for a fun evening of yacking and watching this red haired woman remodel homes with no demolition. It was actually entertaining and I saw something which helped me make a decision for our AZ home.

Friday we were once again on the move. I used Mom’s Instant Pot to make a delicious beef stew before we drove over to the small community of Ain to meet my first cousins Mary Ellen and Debbie. Many of our relatives are buried in the cemetery behind the small Baptist church–Mom’s parents and three of her sisters. Mom was one of six children, all daughters and she is the only surviving one. Mary Ellen’s and Debbie’s moms are buried in this cemetery and we placed the flowers Debbie brought on all the graves. Mary Ellen’s dad, Uncle Frank Lee was with her and it was good to see him; he will be 94 years old in December and is still very mobile. 

A stop at Walmart and the drug store for Mom’s prescription and we were home. The bed in Mom’s guest room is HARD and I was having trouble sleeping. At Walmart I found a memory foam mattress pad and Friday night I slept much better! My niece and great niece dropped by after their hiking trip to find waterfalls–it’s amazing how many waterfalls are in Arkansas in the spring when water flows are high. 

Saturday evening we were glued to the TV as another sign of spring in Arkansas is this–

All those orange spots are potential tornadoes. The skies turned green (yes green), the thunder was so loud and the lightning was striking–no pun intended! I’m not sure I like spring in Arkansas!! Mom’s yard is a lake after almost three inches of rain!

Sunday was spent on the go again–unplanned but necessary. We are home, the weather is calm tonight–maybe it will be an early to bed evening!

The change I’m least happy about–Word Press and its decision to MAKE me use their block editor. I suppose I will get used to it but I’m crabby! It’s clunky, not user friendly nor intuitive. Adding photos is cumbersome now, finding anything is cumbersome. 😡As with any technology, change is inevitable I guess.

The change I’m most happy about–our weather has finally changed. That’s not to say we aren’t going to have another cool down but the last few days were glorious. Warm and sunny! We enjoyed a Thursday evening happy hour on the screened porch at Dan and Louanne’s where we watched all the birds that scurry in to dine on the birdseed Louanne scatters. The quail and their antics are so comical and we all remarked that we are truly getting old when we find our entertainment in the shenanigans of the quail!

The Cowboy has had some rough days and there is definitely something amiss with his shoulder and favoring the shoulder has lead to a stiff neck. He’s being really, really careful with that right arm! Thursday he cleaned and tuned the heavy duty Singer sewing machine he purchased several months ago. By end of day he had sewn a new cover for his backhoe seat. Perfect occupation for a man who has been told by his wife to take it easy!

Friday we made a run to Tucson. I spotted a reclining couch on Craigslist and the Cowboy found a glass fronted bookcase. We hooked up the cargo trailer and off we went with me as the driver. I had made sure when communicating with the couch owner that some one could load the couch for us as the Cowboy certainly can’t lift even a share of a couch.

I may be the driver but I am most definitely NOT the backer! The Cowboy took over, I blocked traffic for him and he backed that trailer down a curved STEEP driveway like the backing pro he is. The young man who helped his father load the couch for us said, “he’s good!” Yes he is a very good backer!

Friday evening we joined our Montana friend Larry for dinner–we ate at a restaurant just up the road from us–the Chuckwagon. The food was good and our waitress was a delight! It feels so good to dine out–we are still careful and prefer to eat in places where the staff still wear masks but it’s just so nice to be out and about!

The woman selling the bookcase was having a garage sale–they purchased this house in Green Valley in as is condition and furnished. An elderly man lived there alone after his wife died and the house was jam packed full of “treasures.” I purchased a 12 piece place setting of Franciscan china–very simple and elegant plus a few pieces of Christmas china for $60! The china has so many serving pieces, even a teapot which I will probably try to sell on eBay–a china replacement website lists its value at $200. So, we made a good haul and were home by 2:30pm. The furniture stayed in the trailer until Saturday morning when friends came and unloaded the couch for us.

The teapot on top of the bookcase is the one I will probably try to sell–it’s pretty but I would never use a teapot.

At the garage sale there were so many books, hundreds of books. The homeowner told me that if I purchased the china I had to take some books. We took a bird book and a cookbook from Austin, TX. The cookbook has been used–there are notes on some of the recipes, “very good,” “wonderful,” or “not good.” And there are lots of recipes with lard as an ingredient and not just for pie crusts–it’s an oldie but a goodie cookbook!

Louanne and Dan were out for dinner tonight and we dined like kings–spaghetti, Cesar salad using Ina Garten’s dressing recipe and Louanne’s sourdough bread. For dessert I used a recipe I’ve had since 2001 for a strawberry rolled cake–oh my!! Yes, we dined like kings.

Strawberry Long Cake Roll (Recipe by RealSimple Magazine)

Ingredient Checklist

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• confectioners’ sugar
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 2 pints strawberries, cut in half if large

Directions

Instructions Checklist

• Step 1 Heat oven to 375° F.
• Step 2 Lightly coat a jelly-roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) with vegetable cooking spray. Line the bottom with wax paper. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
• Step 3 Using an electric mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add ½ cup of the granulated sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
• Step 4 In another bowl, beat egg yolks and another ½ cup of the granulated sugar until pale and thick. Beat in 1 teaspoon of the vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the flour and beaten yolks into the whites until just blended. Spread in pan. Bake 15 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
• Step 5 Meanwhile, place a clean dish towel on the counter and dust it lightly with confectioners’ sugar. When the cake is done, loosen the edges from the pan with a knife and invert the cake onto the towel. Peel off the waxed paper. Roll the cake lengthwise, along with the towel, and set aside, at room temperature, to cool. Can be made up to one day ahead.
• Step 6 Whip the cream with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until soft peaks form. Unroll the cake and spread with half the whipped cream. Top with half the strawberries, and reroll without the towel. Serve with the remaining strawberries and whipped cream.

The next blog post will be coming to you from Arkansas–time to make a trip home to see about the family.

Monday morning not so bright and early (my friend Jane has never been a morning person) Jane, Paul and the two pooches headed down the driveway. I heard from them later in the day and they had landed at a Cracker Barrel for the night having experienced some awful roads, so rough that it sheared the bolts off one of their small couches which was attached to the wall. Tuesday afternoon they made it to Evanston, WY and were halted by a closed I-80 due to the snowstorm in Wyoming and Colorado. Wednesday afternoon they were finally home. Stressful travel!

After our visitors departed I cleaned the house a bit, the Cowboy changed out a light switch and swept the cabinet making room–and that was it for his shoulder. The shoulder was really painful Monday afternoon and evening to the point we were considering a visit to the ER on Tuesday. After a careful massage from his dear wife and a hot shower he could lift his arm over his head–this was a first since last Wednesday. Tuesday he worked on the cabinets–building and even sanding a couple cabinet doors. The shoulder is very sore and now his neck is bothering him. Between the two of us we only have about one half of a body that’s not painful!

Tuesday I applied some more polyurethane and cooked a fabulous lunch–meatloaf, mashed potatoes, asparagus and salad. It was so, so good.

The wind is trying to blow us to New Mexico again. Tuesday was a miserable day–so incredibly windy with a high temp of 50 degrees. I hung some jeans on the clothesline and let me tell you it didn’t take very long for those to dry! But Wednesday the wind was gone and it was about 66 degrees and sunny–a perfect day!

And as if I didn’t have enough to worry about with the Cowboy and his shoulder Emmi decided to have bloody diarrhea–again–she had it in January. After eight phone calls to veterinarians and the emergency hospital in Tucson I finally found a clinic that would make time for us. I would have just taken her to the emergency clinic in Tucson but they told me the wait today was EIGHT hours or longer!! Instead we went to Benson Animal Hospital. We’ve been there before and weren’t impressed but today the experience was totally different. We saw a relief veterinarian and he could not have been more thorough or caring. The technicians and front office people were amazing! Very happy with our visit and Emmi is medicated and on the mend. Whew!! Are we done??

Oh my goodness has March blown into Arizona! Early morning Emmi and I walk and the air is still, the birds are talking to us and the sun is shining; then it hits! About 9am every morning for the last five days or so the wind has literally howled and it has continued to howl into each night. The first couple days were warm but the last four days have been miserable–cold, wind, and even a smattering of snow!

Saturday morning’s wind brought moody skies.

Our friends Jane and Paul arrived late Wednesday afternoon from Wyoming. We’ve been eating well (of course) doing a bit of sightseeing–we took them up to the Chiricahua National Monument–and just visiting. They are not impressed with our weather–such is southeast Arizona and 4500 feet elevation!

Countertops were measured on Tuesday–yippee–the young man was knowledgeable and quick. It will still probably be another month before we see countertops.

But–it really doesn’t matter. We’ve come to a huge whoa. My number one handyman, cabinet maker, fix anything for me Cowboy is injured. He was working on a motorhome leaking air value and wrenched his shoulder. His right shoulder. This happened Wednesday afternoon late. Bless his heart, he was so incapacitated! It’s hard to dress yourself with one arm, eat with your useless left arm, etc. It’s Sunday and he’s better, not ready to build cabinets but at least he’s not trying to catch Cheerios floating in a bowl of milk with his left hand!!

Jane and Paul were to have left on Friday or Saturday–their offer on a real estate purchase was accepted after they started this trip and they would like to be home for the inspection. Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and the winter storm traveling through Colorado and Wyoming closed all the routes they might have taken to get home. So–we are still enjoying their company and they plan to depart on Monday morning.

Jane and Paul have a golden doodle eight month old puppy–Dally–and she is so, so cute–and puppy wild, Emmi is NOT impressed!

After church (for the first time in a year) we drove to Willcox and ate at La Unica–they have a semi outdoor dining patio with heaters–the food was outstanding and we enjoyed our little outing. And–it’s still windy!

 

Before I bore you to death, here are a couple cute kiddos hanging out in the horse feeders!

I’m warning you up front that unless you have plantar fasciitis you won’t find this post very interesting. Or maybe you should read it just in case–I’m amazed at the number of people who have had or currently have some degree of plantar fasciitis. It hurts, a lot!!

Discussing ones ailments makes me feel old but I guess it is what it is! I am getting older (not old 😁) and my body is not cooperating! Anyone who reads this blog knows I’ve had this knee issue for going on two years–I will need a total knee replacement in the near future. In the course of favoring the knee I did something to my hip in July of 2020. I could NOT sit in a car for any length of time, I hobbled like an old woman when I would stand from a sitting position, the pain woke me at night. It was a struggle to take Emmi for walks.

I saw an orthopedic surgeon in Sierra Vista, AZ this season and he saw nothing on x-ray, referring me for physical therapy. After the gel injections in my knee in Montana before we came south my knee was the least of my problems and it felt good–until the physical therapy for my hip. In spite of my telling the hunk of a physical therapist that my knee was bad, the first movement he did to see if he could replicate my hip pain torqued my knee past the point it should have been. So then I had knee pain AND hip pain. 😡

And that’s not all. In the course of doing the physical therapist prescribed exercises for my hip and some yoga I developed another round of plantar fasciitis–a bad round this time. I could hardly walk. Getting out of bed made me want to cry–which I did–big, ugly sobs. I was absolutely miserable. All the various pains had me limping and making other parts of my body ache. When I went to Scottsdale with Louanne I could hardly keep up with her and she walked slower to accommodate me. This was much worse than my original bout with plantar fasciitis two years ago.

We have TV in Arizona because we can access the free digital stations out of Tucson with our rooftop antenna. We started seeing advertisements for the Good Feet Store and their claims for curing plantar fasciitis. So, Louanne and I went to a Good Feet Store while in Scottsdale. The guy who helped me was a salesman in the best sense of the word–he knew his product frontward and backward. So, this guy presented me with two rather hard half inserts for shoes. He put those inserts in the heels of a pair of sneakers, I laced them up and walked around the store. I was almost cured–my heel pain was so much less, I stood up straighter, my hip didn’t hurt. I was immediately sold–until he told me the price–$1000!!! Once again I almost cried!

Back at the condo I called the Cowboy and we discussed the spending of $1000 for my feet and he suggested I try Amazon. I must admit I was highly skeptical and was ready to spend the $1000–that’s how much better my heel felt and really my whole body! But I did search Amazon and low and behold there were inserts that looked identical to the ones the young man was trying to sell me for $1000! From a company called Natural Foot Orthotics. For $99/pair. I ordered a pair. Oh my goodness!!!

They work, unequivocally, they work! You remove the inner sole from your shoe, place the insert in the heel and then place a flat, thin inner sole (I also ordered these from Amazon) over the insert. I’ve worn little else since these inserts arrived a week ago and my heel pain is gone–not there–gone! I don’t have the urge to scream when I get out of bed at night, I don’t limp, I can walk Emmi–it’s gone!! And last night was the true test, I have Vionic (a brand lots of people wear because of their excellent arch support) sandals and I wore them in the evening as we had a guest for dinner and I wanted to be a little more dressed up than sneakers. No heel pain, none!! No heel pain during the night, no heel pain Sunday morning!! Amazing.

To be up front, the $1000 from the Good Feet Store did include three pair of inserts in various arch height and several pair of thin inner soles. The store also guarantees their inserts and replaces them if they fail–for free.

So–that’s your boring post for this week–if you’ve read this far and have plantar fasciitis, try a pair of these inserts from Natural Foot Orthotics .

March got a head start on the last day of February with a super cold wind blowing hard all day and into the night. On the first day of March, the wind blew but not so hard. Dust everywhere!

The Cowboy is building cabinets–the upper ones. I wasn’t going to have any upper cabinets in the kitchen but he convinced me I might not want open shelving in Arizona and that I might want the storage. Our kitchen is in the exact location of the original kitchen in this house but we did move one wall a foot or so to give us more room, creating a galley type kitchen. So, one wall will have upper cabinets and the other wall is all windows.

Kitchens can be too big in my humble opinion. I’ve cooked in kitchens which are too big and I’m exhausted at the end of the day. The kitchen in the guest house is that way–it’s too far from work counter/sink to stove and refrigerator. The Cowboy said the kitchen triangle–sink to stove to refrigerator should be 13 feet total–my new kitchen will fit these dimensions. My sister’s kitchen is a galley type kitchen and it works well. Our kitchen in Montana while not a galley type fits these dimensions and is easy to work in.

And disappointing news on the kitchen countertop front. From the beginning I have not been comfortable with the people controlling the measurement and install of the kitchen countertops. I was right to be uncomfortable. We’ve waited two weeks for the measuring people who were to come Thursday morning. Today the company called and delayed the appointment until next Tuesday. I was on the phone with Lowe’s and they gave me the number for the people in Lowe’s corporate who deal with the installation companies. We are changing course–on Thursday we are again meeting with the kitchen countertop people at Lowe’s to chose new countertops made by a different company and using a different measuring and install company. This company assured Lowe’s corporate they would be out to measure within the week of receiving the order. We will see!

Wednesday I went over to Linda’s and helped her arrange and price garage sale items. On Friday and Saturday the Geneva Street annual garage sale happens. I did some early shopping at Linda’s scoring a pair of almost new walking sticks!!

March 3rd and the wind about blew us into New Mexico today! I hate to think what the rest of March will bring!

Well, I took a trip-with Louanne and we had an amazing time!! My second vaccine dose was scheduled for this past Wednesday in Glendale, AZ, a three hour drive from us. I tried my best to find a place in Tucson to receive the Pfizer second dose with no success so road trip it was! Not only did I get my second vaccine injection but we shopped, dined well and not so well and we laughed! It was fun to get away to the big city!

Louanne should have found a larger cart!

The vaccine appointment was once again seamless–drive in, drive out and I had absolutely no reaction to the second injection. One of the volunteers moving vehicles along in line told me they had many people flying to Phoenix from California to get the vaccine as the powers that be in California weren’t moving the vaccine quickly enough. Many of our friends in this area have now received at least their first dose so Arizona is moving right along.

I liked this little sticker they gave me and the band aid they stuck on my arm said the same thing.

Well, the destructive gophers killed two of our trees we planted last spring eating the roots and also girdling the tree above ground. Those trees were about 4 feet tall! We could keep the gophers from eating above ground but not below ground. Time for destructive action against the gophers. As of Sunday morning the score is Us 2 and gophers 0! It’s hard to grow anything in the southwest! If it’s not the gophers, it’s the rabbits!

While I was gone the Cowboy took a motorcycle ride and worked at getting the lower kitchen cabinets leveled and attached to the walls in preparation for Lowe’s coming to measure for countertops. On Saturday I attempted to eradicate some of the dust that had collected in this house. Not only is it dry and dusty in Arizona but all the cabinet construction generates even more dust. It’s an ongoing battle that won’t end until construction ends. But we sure do love our new living/dining room!–it’s worth a bit more vacuuming!

During my absence the Cowboy had some excitement–the fire was put out quickly and we never heard how it started.

Our Montana friend Larry stopped by Friday evening–he owns a place outside Douglas. He left Montana during some of that nasty weather they had a couple weeks ago and said it was a tough trip. There are many miles between Montana and southern Arizona and if the roads are bad, those miles seem longer!

I’ve washed a mountain of clothes and applied polyurethane to more cabinet door and drawer fronts. I finished the refrigerator panels in the motorhome and you wouldn’t know they were ever covered with that burl veneer. I’m becoming a polyurethane applying expert–ugh!

Sunday afternoon I joined the ladies at Linda’s for drinks and appetizers–it’s always a fun gathering!

This cool photo was taken by JenMarie RdWright in Big Timber, Montana. She gave me permission to share. The engines are owned by Montana Rail Link. The first one states “Thank You Veterans” and the second one states, “Thank You To All Essential Workers.

 

 

 

 

We planted small trees in March 2020, right before we headed north to escape Arizona’s rising covid numbers. In October when we returned the trees looked great and had probably grown at least a foot. Now some stupid hairy varmint is trying to destroy those trees! They are eating the bark from the trunks at and below ground level!! So far the critters have not girdled any of the trees and we applied tar to the scars left behind by the toothy varmints. All we can do now is hope! We are also going to wrap the trunks with pieces of PVC pipe the Cowboy will split and then tape back together around the trees. And hope we catch the varmint–and it won’t be to relocate it!

Nothing new is going on–we’ve been making cabinets, painting cabinets, etc. The lower cabinets are built and the Cowboy is working on the drawers. I’ve been applying polyurethane to what seems like an endless supply of drawer fronts and cabinet doors.

Sunday evening we were invited to an afternoon gathering outside at the home of our newest residents, Mo and Donnie. They live on the same street as Dan, Louanne, Linda and Janice. The sun was warm but the wind was awful–you had to not only hang onto your plate, you had to hang onto the chips on your plate!

Still think covid is a hoax? Still think it’s just the flu? Think again! Someone near and dear to me, 59 years old, healthy, and takes no medications has been in the hospital for one week today struggling to breath. With every breath he has been wondering if he will ever get over this, will he have lasting effects. I can thankfully say that today he seems to have turned a corner–his oxygen has been decreased and his oxygen saturation levels are staying up near where they should be. It’s been one rough, emotional week folks, it’s not the flu.

We have a bunch of quail hanging out in our yard–we love seeing these birds and hearing them talk to each other. The Cowboy isn’t in favor of feeding the birds–birdseed attracts rats and the rats attract the snakes. Two critters we don’t need!