Treasure hunting

Today I felt well enough to get out of the house...

The first and very mundane thing I did was go to town and get groceries.
Boring.

Morris and I ended up heading for the woods in the early afternoon ... leaving hubby resting comfortably -- with my cell phone tucked into my breast pocket.
[Yes, he knows how to use it.
He called me when I was in town to ask me to pick something up for him.

I had the hardest time figuring out what the heck was making such a strange noise in my car. Good thing I was in the parking lot.
As you can tell I don't 'get' calls often.]

I strolled more than hiked. This marked the first day in nearly a week that I've felt like doing anything more than really just sleeping. This cold is a nasty one. It takes the energy out of you and makes even the easiest of tasks seem difficult.

So I take this as a sign of healing.
The forest didn't offer much in the way of interesting things. Unless you like abandoned old vehicles and skulls.

The sun was warm and the ground was muddy in some areas. I was pleased to be out breathing fresh air.

Morris was extremely happy to be running around sniffing and looking for things to make me holler
ICKY!!!

All is quiet now.
I'm not hollering 'ICKY' or 'DROP IT'. Morris is sound asleep on the couch. Hubby is sound asleep upstairs~~~
and I am heading for bed.

Good People...

Well here they are the first little blossoms of spring.
This morning I woke up to 4" of snow covering the yard and woods.
According to the weather forecast, it should melt off today.

Things have been quiet around here as we both take time to recover from spring colds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to take a moment and say something about my neighbors.

They are all wonderful people. Rural folk are pretty special. While hubby was in the hospital, one neighbor came over and fed out round bales of hay for me while I was either at work or visiting hubby.
She just did it because it is the neighborly thing to do.

Another heard about our situation and offered to bring over some round bales from his farm...in fact we had two offers.
Another called to see if they could do chores for me.

Some other neighbors heard through the grapevine and thought we could use some home cooking.
We had some of the most delicious food delivered to our doorstep.

This is the heart and soul of a real rural neighborhood. We all pull for each other without keeping tabs, or using the 'we owe them one' mentality. It doesn't exist here. It simply is.

If one person on our ridge [or within the community] needs help. Everyone pitches in without thinking about personal gain.

We call it 'Good People'.

And we sure have them here in Folsom.

All's quiet...

Things have settled down and we are getting back into a normal routine. Hubby is doing better, he is taking it 'slow and easy' as the doctors have ordered him too.

Of course ~~ I, who never get any sort of crud, got a doozy. Some sort of crud. My ears hurt and feel like they are plugged up along with my head.

My voice, I guess sounds strange.

So for right now things are a bit quiet around here.

Update~~~

Well a quick update is warranted here.

Hubby may be coming home from the VA today after they run some tests to see that he can maintain his oxygen levels while active. ... and an echocardiogram to make sure that this last episode did no damage to his heart.

He was taken off O2 yesterday and felt good enough to get showered and have a picnic with his 'kids' and grand kids.

---these are important cures...children...----

I am on an 11 hr duty and probably won't be able to get a replacement so that I can go to Mad City and pick up my husband.

My sweet daughter has volunteered to make the long trek.

Bottom line is he is doing much better. COPD has not gone away though. It is now an ugly fact that will stick with us, but at least we hopefully will be better informed and better prepared to deal with it as the disease progresses.



When he has recovered some more, they will be running more tests [of course!].

I am a very lucky woman to have this fellow in my life you know.
I just love the knuckle~head.

Never take it for granted

Never take anyone for granted.

If you love someone, tell them that the very first thing in the morning.

Tell that someone how much you love them at night before you fall asleep.

Even when angry, remind yourself that 'he' or 'she' is special.

My husband had not been feeling well the past few days. He went to the clinic on Tuesday and was seen and given some antibiotics. He normally bounces back fairly quickly [tough ol' bird!].
But not this time.

This morning he said he hurt so bad and it felt like someone was ripping his lungs out.

I called the clinic...debating with myself about the 2 hour drive to the Madison VA...and decided to stay local.
The doc at the clinic said 'he wouldn't have made the drive to Madison'.
Yeah, that comment shook me to the bottom of my soul.

In short, his Oxygen level was so low, it was dangerous. In retrospect that would explain why he was so tired and that even putting socks on was a monumental effort.

The doc at the Viroqua Clinic concluded what was NOT wrong with him. It was not the flu, and not pneumonia.

His COPD was the culprit~~~we think.

Doc called the VA hospital in Madison and arranged for him to be transported there by Paramedic Ambulance.

She is an awesome doc who knows how to get things done.

Now I wait to hear what happens next. I spoke with him briefly a while ago and he was in the VA's ER. I did tell him I loved him.

And secondly, my heart goes out to my [ex] sister in law [Sarah]. She lost her husband this morning I am told by my sons.

Danger in the Ravine

I have to begin by stating that my JRT, Morris, is simply the bravest soul I've ever come across.
[cough, cough...]

I'd gone down through this ravine of boulders to explore and look for interesting things. Morris of course the avid explorer went on ahead of me.
I was impressed by his pose on the large mossy rock, so I paused to take his photo.

I knelt down to take a closer look at the water running over the 'shelf rock' and was trying to figure out if I could actually get a shot of it...when suddenly I heard the most awful...

growling...

I glanced up to see Morris tumbling down backwards from near the top of the ravine...dirt and rocks bounced along with him,
his growls turned into a yelp as he landed. Dirt and debri landed around him.

I jumped up and picked my way towards him, ready to grab onto my pistol in case he had just been attacked by a coyote.

Morris came to me shivering and literally tried to climb up my leg and into my arms.

He was shaking but seemed okay.

I stood and looked up the steep wall of clay, rock, and dirt. I could see nothing. No lurking predators, no danger.

I stood for a few long minutes with a shivering, shaking JRT latched onto my leg. Soon the answer became apparent.
Mr. Morris had tried to climb up the wall. Since the ground was so saturated from the snow melt, everything was loose, and the ravine wall...

...'let go' and tumbled to the bottom with Morris.

Silly dog.
As I stood there, another rock just let go and tumbled to the bottom.

Morris turned and growled, and then renewed his efforts to climb into my arms.

Such valor, courage, and fearlessness.

Ice Falls

I decided on a spring hike to the 'back valley' yesterday. By the time I reached the first valley, I'd taken off my headband [ear warmers] and hung a sweatshirt on a branch. I'd come back that way and pick it up.

Once down in the valley, I took a break. I hiked with my 'gift' from my husband. A Rossi Trifecta Youth rifle, that has 3 barrels you can swap out.
A .22LR, .223, and a .410.

I spent the morning practicing with each barrel and decided to take the .410.

I intended to hike the 'back valley's' length and see if I could get through the mess left by the flash flooding last spring. [Here I saw trout!!!]


It was a pretty tough hike and yep, I got wet. Between crossing the creek-stream and the melting snow my boots eventually got damp.

The scenery, although rather 'brown' was beautiful.

The prize awaited me midway up a very steep hill.

The 'ice cave'.

The photo of course doesn't do it justice. But I spent a long time in the valley and then at the ice falls before heading home.

The calling of the hills~~

The hills call me.

Yes they really do.

I am addicted to walking in the wooded hillsides that surround us. It started soon after I moved here in 1996.

If I don't get out into the woods and explore at least every other day~I get cranky.

The land holds treasures that change each day. They can change in the same spot.
I'm not kidding.

One day a rush of water,
the next...
frozen formations...

One hike takes you on slippery icy surfaces, the next day you walk on softened snow.



Climb a ravine and you will see something that will not be there the next time you climb through it...I can guarantee you that much.

Each time I go, of course I am drawn to the creek. There is one in the first valley and one in the second.
I yearn to get back to the 'back' valley and see the little water falls and ice formations before they disappear.

I've been doing this for nearly 13 years now and I am always surprised or intrigued by how the land ever changes.

Is it a spiritual thing? I don't know.
I just know the hills call to me...

Icky Icky...

Icky Icky!

What do those words mean to a dog?

Yum Yum!

I stand with one hand on my hip and a finger pointed at Morris as he tries to gobble down a piece of smelly yucky hairy something ...

This yucky thing will surely cause him to be sick later and possibly throw up in the house in the middle of the night.
Gross.

So I shout 'Icky Icky'.

He hears: Yum Yum
and thinks: Hee Hee, gross her out!

Why do dogs always find the most disgusting things to munch on?

So what do I do?
Oh yeah, first photograph it....


then take it away...

Now I have a gross smelly yucky icky disgusting hunk of furish something in one hand and no place to put it. [yes I was wearing gloves].

So what do I do with it?

Well, use it to make Morris 'sit' pretty.

And he does.[I hung the disgusting thing in a tree as I headed home from my walk.]

Mr. Morris was disappointed he didn't get it back.

Oh, but there will be another shout of 'Icky Icky' very soon again.

Muddin'

Normally you wouldn't think of an old Chevy Cavalier as a 'muddin' mobile. Over the weekend we had rain, snow, ice and warm temps.

The frost went out of the driveway or 'dooryard' [in Wisconsin country terms] and left the Cavalier's front end sunk in mud.

Slimy mud, bottomless mud...

Mud so bad that the tires just went forward or backward when I tried to leave for work very very early in the morning.
I ended up abandoning the Cav and taking the big hulking maroon diesel truck.
Four wheel drive was my only option.

While I was at work hubby got the Cav out of it's mudhole.
I guess there was a lot of spinnin' and mud flinging going on.

Yeah.
Leave to a guy to love a challenge like that and 'use up a quarter tank of gas and a half hour' worth of spinning and muddin' just to get the car moved.

Me?
Iwould have simply hooked onto the darn thing with a tractor and moved it.
But hey...
I'm a gal right?
...with no common sense?

I'm going to park it on the ridge for the next few days so when the temps rise again....

well, I won't have to go 'muddin'.

Where did the weekend go?

Ask me and I cannot tell you....really.

I worked midnight to 8AM on Saturday.
I think I slept most of Saturday away.

Sunday we got up ...um early or on time or whatever it was and headed to JC to see the kids and the grand kids!
Whoohooo.

The roads started getting ugly by the time we had gone 10 miles. But we drove out of the freezing rain and headed into downpours.
We arrived in JC safely ~~where the entertainment began.....Thankfully we brought Morris because the roads were too bad for us to go back home. So we enjoyed a full day of entertainment.
Good fun, good fun, and tired parents, grand kids, and grand parents.

I took a 'wonderful' photo of my 'daughter' and I pretty much promised her I wouldn't post it on the internet.
I may have to hold this photo as ransom for more of those good cookies she made.

Those 'disappearing cookies'.....YUM

A day of Treasures

Morris and I went on a Treasure hunt...he found the Treasures.

Me? I hiked hard through the rapidly melting snow and found my own wonderful treasures to photograph.

The water was running off the ridge tops and down dry runs.
It created some wonderful noise...and of course, I couldn't help but get wet...wet ...
wet.

I am fascinated by the creek so no matter where I intend to go, I always end up at one of the little creeks near by.

The challenge to me is studying the creek, learning what to expect when certain weather arrives.

Today was a snow~melt day.
Photographing the water was a real challenge because of the reflection of the sunlight AND the snow...not to mention the water.

But I did end up with some very nice shots.
This one I edited.

Today's favorite.

Learn something new each day

I end up with some long hours at work that are ... well quite bluntly put, very quiet. I wouldn't say boring really. But I've gotten into a habit of listening to public radio.

I think that is good. I'm learning things and following our country's economic and political doings.

Well, these days it can almost be depressing. What I did NOT know is that our country has been through this before more than once.

I found that quite interesting. In fact several times our country has been through 'panics' and 'depressions'. I found this interesting page from History Box The Panic Of... It makes for some head scratching reading.

Is this a cycle of good times and bad? I don't know what the future is going to bring.

~~~~~
New terms learned today.
Zombie Bank
Zombie Business
~~~~~
Old terms that make me go huh??
Toxic Assets
Why don't they just call them what they are?
Bad loans.
~~~~~~
Economic Downturn
Recession?
or a new term that they were trying to give it
Pre-session, Cre-session [credit recession]

I know this. I do appreciate where I work and the fact that I am working. For this I am grateful.

Horsing Around...

I put this on YouTube and will share the whole one minute and 43 seconds with you if you want to see some mares bucking, rearing, and generally acting stupid...

okay not stupid, but warming themselves up and feeling giddy on a chilly February morning...



Enjoy!

Frenemies

I heard this term last night and thought it was a hoot. It describes some workplace women to a 'T'.

It was explained to me that 2 alpha women would work together and pretend to be best of friends while at the same time be watching each other as enemies would.




So I looked the definition up and came across this site:
Urban Dictionary

which offered this definition:

A type of relationship whereby parties are silently resentful of and competitive with one another, but who behave superficially as though they are best friends.

The friendship develops because it suits their mutual interests, but parties involved would stab each other in the back in a tachycardic heartbeat if it suited them.

Common in the relationally aggressive female world, particularly where competition for men or careers/academics are involved.

My point?
I haven't a clue, I just thought this was an interesting term.

In the Land of the Rocks

Morris and I took a roaming walk today. Except for 'the land of the rocks', we were in compacted snow and ice.

It was some of the most treacherous footing I've ever encountered in the woods. We stopped on this hillside that looked as though some giant had simply tossed some rocks into the forest at random.

We ... I should say 'I' rested, while Morris ran skidding and sliding in delight across the frozen ground and icy snow pack. He had his nose to the ground and in the air looking for delightful smells. [and yummy deer pellets...yuck]

We startled a deer that was nesting in some downed tree tops. We watched as the deer scrambled for footing as it bounded away.

The wind was cold on my face and so refreshing. I sat listening to the sounds it made in the tree branches above and was simply~~~
happy.