Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  Happy Easter, everyone. It has been a lovely day here. High 60's, low 70's. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. Like I am the Goldilocks of weather. We went to church this morning and I needed black shoes to match my dress. The only pair I could locate was the black high heels (actually not very high) that I wore to my son's wedding. They were so comfortable that I wore them all day of the wedding and again when we went out that evening to eat. There was dancing involved and the shoes were fine. No, HeWho did not escort me to the dance floor, but my son did for one dance, then my daughter-in-law pulled me out there. All this to say the shoes were comfy ...... Of course I was not recovering from a bout of gout then. It is like me feet have betrayed me! The sick foot is still apt to swell and it did, while the big toe throbbed. My other foot which is supposed to be well, must be tired of supporting me because I have developed a corn on the ball of that foot up near t...

Still not feeling like doing much of anything here. Going to the clinic tomorrow. The fatigue and constant headache is the most of it. The gout foot is still a little tender, but I can walk. We had a day last week that just so nice that I took some green bean seedlings out to my garden and planted them. That was the only accomplishment of the day! Then I learned that it was supposed to get down to 22 that night.  With great effort I gathered a bunch of plastic bottles with the tops cut off to make domes over the tender seedlings and then managed to muster up enough energy to put some plastic sheeting over the the plants and the strawberry plants that were starting to vine up the fence. Thank goodness for leftovers, because that was all I had in me! HeWho had a birthday on Sunday and will be one year older than me for the next 4 months. He wanted ribs. I wanted a nap, but we went to Rib Country since he had a free half slab of ribs due him. Our server brought him his free dessert of...

  I woke last week to see my swollen neck in the mirror. Looked like I swallowed a golf ball and it was sticking out on the right side of my neck. I have been miserable since the gouty toe showed up and was not looking forward to a swollen lymph node that was an indication some sort of infection going on. The fatigue is making me sleep a lot. I sit down to watch a little TV and doze off sitting up. I can't seem to concentrate on anything. All I feel like doing is sleeping and just sitting and holding my Eddie. Everyday brings another symptom. The fatigue, the whole body aching, lack of concentration, and not much of an appetite. I am pretty sure I have Covid. My clinic is not open today and I could go to the Emergency Room and be a serial spreader. I will just wait until Monday and call in for a Covid test. If it is negative, then this must be the flu. Either one sucks. We were planning a trip south to see the babies and then on to meet the new granddog. No way will I be holding th...

  Mr. BoJangles here. It was very cold this morning! I don't know why. It was over 70 degress for the past two days and I was certain that the cold weather had moved on to torture others and leave us alone. I just don't understand weather! Mom looks at something she calls a forecast. Late yesterday she was all about her seedlings. These are tiny little plants she sowed into some containers for the past week. She has what looks like a thousand envelopes (she calls them seed packets).  Everytime she finds something she thinks will hold a seed with a plastic top, she will sit at the table going through all the envelopes. She will call out the names to see what Dad does. I am not sure why she does this, she will not be taking his advice on planting! She planted some eggplant seeds and Dad wrinkled his nose in disgust and announced that he would not be eating any. This seems to make Mom smile and mutter to herself "We will see about that ..." While she plays with her seeds...

  The big day has arrived! I herded the canines into my bedroom to await the new stove. Now, keep in mind that they could have simply sent a repair out to change out the one burner that did not work. Hold that thought ...... Instead of simply repairing an other wise fine stove, they insisted that they should REPLACE it. And, the replacement is TODAY. I am in my bedroom with my furry babies as I listen to a very frustrated HeWho trying to remove the door in order to get it through the only opening that will take it outside. Delivery men refuse to assist and even suggest coming back at a later date! My new stove is sitting just outside their truck on the ground, still in the box causing me to thing to myself "What the not heaven (thanks Val)". Do we now have to go and muscle that thing up the steps and onto the porch ourselves?? I went out to assist. Not much assistance, as I kept jumping back to protect the gouty toe. I returned to my confinement, realizing that I was annoying...

  I went in to the clinic yesterday and my primary agreed with my diagnosis on the gout and asked why I waited so long to get relief. Of course everything always begins on a weekend for me and I do not linger at the ER with something that is not an emergency. I was there to discuss one of my medications not covered by the new insurance and decided to share my gouty foot and confirm what I already knew. On the way, I can't drive, since it is my right foot, HeWho told me to ask for the new drug just out for gout. "It is supposed to cure it in 24 hours!" First of all, there is no cure to speak of, it will only get you through the current bout. Bout of Gout. It rhymes! And, second of all, does he not know me at all? I don't do newly released drugs! Since I am over the acute part, why would I want to take something that might have worse side effects than the malady? Amanda agreed with me, since I was already addressing the issue with natural remedies. She did, however, adm...

  I carefully hobbled to bed last night, thinking that perhaps today I would suddenly be cured upon wakening. Yeah, that didn't happen. It was not a great night. I went to bed in pain and woke in pain. During the night when I should have been sleeping in an ideal world, I was constantly moving dogs away from my foot. Eddie likes to be touching me and is agreeable to me moving to a more perfect location and was not an unusual interruption of my slumber. Mr. BoJangles was a different story. He was at the foot of the bed one minute, then leaping over my sick foot and walking across my abdomen on the way to try to steal my pillow. He would curl around my head and make me feel claustrophobic while I massaged my belly where he landed and knocked the breath out of me. Several times he grazed my big toe and caused a streak of pain, like lightning jolt through my foot. I usually navigate my way to a bathroom break in the dark, but last night I turned the bathroom light on to gaze at my foot...

  I managed to get quite a bit done yesterday, still hobbling around on the side of my foot. I cleaned my kitchen and scoured the sinks. Got caught up on laundry. The very thought of HeWho's laundry abilities make me shudder! The most difficult task I performed yesterday was the changing of the sheets. I probably could have asked for help, but he gets impatient with all my rules of bed making and the area is tight since I insisted on the king size bed in the tiny room. It took me awhile to get the job done and I was exhausted upon completion. My foot ached while I cooked a simple supper and continued to ache long after I was in bed. It was worth it to get into a bed with clean linen and no sand on my sheets from little paws that had been outside. I even ventured out to look at all the signs of springs upcoming arrival. I saw bulbs sending shoot up and some daffodils. Strawberry plants galore. It was still not enough to try the steps. So, I never made it up to my She Shed.  I v...

  I rested pretty well last night, despite three trips to the bathroom. Still painful to walk, but not as bad. Still drinking the cherry juice that makes my entire body pucker, and the ginger tea with a little honey to make it go down easier. I stood long enough to load the washer and then to wash some dishes. That was all I could do and when I looked down at my foot it was swollen and a weird shade of purple. Sat back down and propped the offending foot up. So tired of sitting. HeWho just delivered my dinner and then hauled the plate back to the kitchen. He has washed the dishes every day ...... and I only rewashed two and wiped the counters this morning. He keeps leaving to do things in my shed and now I am beginning to worry about my shed. He has made more than two trips that he claims to have made to the hardware store. I thought to ask exactly where this new light fixture had been installed. It hasn't yet. Silly me, since this project began three days ago I thought that mabe i...

  My research was informative and confusing. I just took the suggestions that everyone agreed on and chose those. The number one suggestion was tart cherries. Tart cherries are sometimes hard to find, so I opted for the juice and mixed it with pineapple juice. Pineapple juice was way down on the list of possible remedies, but I needed it to make the cherry juice palatable. It was soooooo tart! I will be eating salads for the rest of my life! Sugar is bad, as well as kidney beans. That was a surprise, the kidney beans. Bananas are good in moderation (sugar content) and so are apples. I love both, so that is good. HeWho has been waiting on me hand and foot .... literally! Helping a bit too much. He decided I had placed the ice pack wrong and decided to move it for me. Let me just say that the weight of the bedsheet causes pain. Having had gout himself, he should have known not to drag the ice pack over my toe!! I was starting to feel guilty that he was tending to my every need, then ...

  Bright and sunny, already 60 degrees and I am itching to be outside. The weekend was the same and I spent a little time in my She Shed Saturday afternoon. Wasn't feeling great and couldn't seem to concentrate on what I wanted to get done. I attributed that to the man and his saw and hammer. HeWho thinks himself to be wise in all matters of stairs and ladders did not approve of my "steps" along the back wall of my She Shed. I will confess that they do look a little cobbled together with all the various materials I used. But they are sturdy! Not only that, they also serve as storage. He ordered me NOT to be using them to get up into the loft. (Go ahead and laugh at this "order", I did) Saturday morning he went to the lumber store and came back with the materials to build a ladder, well, two ladders. One for each loft. They will be hinged and a pulley will lift them overhead and out of the way when not in use. Then (wonder of wonders) he built the first one. ...