LBL Day 2....

Beautiful start to a beautiful day. Was awake after a great nights sleep at 8 am... The skys are blue, the moring is so peaceful and serene. Last night we got back to the camper and we turned off the jeep. Complete, pitch black darkness... Wow... I was so in awe. Lights are needed for safety...I get it..I don't like it, but I get it...but how truely wonderful it would be to have no lights at night... They wayit should be...
I have spent that past hour watching a little squirrel build a nest... She would bite off a small branch and then carry it back up to her nest...that can only mean one thing..Babies!
No to wake up the family so we can go explore...I've had my peaceful moment...let the chaos of my day begin. With 2 overly excited kids and my honey to boot...

Land Between the Lakes...let the adventure begin...

What a crazy week has led to a major first for us... A trip that started not just on time, but early! As always, obstacles came up, but that will not dampen my spirit... First, the ac in the jeep broke...then we thought we had it fixed...but alas...it is broken and no time and no money to get it fixed. Oh well, we will manage... We will travel when it is cooler and we will alter our daily adventures also... Next, well, lord knows I am not the most athletic person, but occasionally I can rise to occasion... I was cutting the dog yard (so the Whitley and Mystic did not get lost in the jungle) and I found one of the holes that the dogs have dug...my choice was backwards and twist my ankle or forward onto both knees...so despite the near constant pain in my left knee for the past 6 weeks..that was the option I chose..but better a bum knee (and it alredy was) then a newly sprained ankle... The funny part is I yelled for Zaine! But she did not hear me..so here I am, laying in the dog yard (yuk), thankfully in the one spot that there was no poop, at the end of the ramp, and Zaine walks out with some water for me and says"did you mean to be laying on the ground"...;-).
So the adventure begins with no ac, a bum knee and 3 hours early... But what an adventure we intend to have!

Spring has sprung....

At last, spring is really here and the growing season is upon us. It seems like all winter I obsess about the spring, I make my plans of when to plant what, and then regardless of those plans, I feel like I am always behind... I have learned over the years that my competativeness comes out in the weirdest places. And when it comes to my garden, I have this uncontrolable urge to plant earlier than anyone else so I have the first harvest,etc. It is quite consuming at times. I reign myself in quite well, but my dream is to have a greenhouse. Yes a small one will do for now, but I really want a full sized one. Real glass, heating system for winter, water, air flow. Yep. I want it all. I fell in love with our greenhouse at the farm at Morehead State University. I would occasionally get sent there probably 'cause I was a girl and a city slicker to boot...LOL...when they needed to work on something like pulling tobacca' ... Funny thing was that I loved it down there. Usually it was just me... Lots of sunshine even in the winter, warmthn even in the snow... Just me, the dirt, and the plants. Next to the horse barn it was my favorite place to be. So there you have it... I could have easliy become a plant doctor... :-)
But back to spring. I have contained myslef thus far. I started some sweet potatoes a few weeks ago, and that tamed the panting bug for awhile. Then came the white death (the flowering pear trees) so I was useless for a week. But we managed to get 2 of my. Boxes moved. And yesterday I planted! It makes me feel all crunchy and granola inside. Home grown food really does taste better. So here is the list so far... Sweet potatoes, rewd (red) potatoes, russett potatoes, beets, spinach, snow peas, broccoli, carrots, swiss chard, egg plant, black beans and onions. Now it is time to start the indoor plants...tomatoes are at the top of that list. But soon zucchini, cucumbers, squash and pole beans will be soming soon!
Last year, I started my grape orchard. Problem is, I didn't pick the best spot, and with the poor rain, truthfully I thought they had died. But never fail! They are all coming back. Little baby grape buds. They make me happy. It's the wonder of Mother Earth...the cycle of life... Joyous,joyous Spring!

I don't know when it started....

i have never even thought about blogging about this before... truthfully, when Iim not painful... mostly i forget about it... the pain. strange how that works... actually scares me, because i figure one day i will miss an important sign of some illness that will be much more problematic than forgetting to tell my doc that my gallbladder was going bad years ago... eventually, i got around to telling the doc... actually only after a friend had her gb out and then aw my symptoms and said "girl... you need that thing out!" she, of course was right... the first i remember about hte constant or intense muscle/tendon type pain was when it went away during my pregnancy with nick. i have no clue how ling i have been suffering with this other than to say at least since 2001... probably should have done something... i am also not sure how long i have been complaining to my doc about it.. probably should ask... but waht i know is that it is insidious... but then can disappear for days, occasionally weeks with no notice... prednisone helps for now... it gives me a few weeks of reprieve... but mostly i want to know what it is... i need a name... i have lost 50 pounds to date and feel good, have tons of energy most days... but when i do exercise or go hiking or do any exercise...wow do i pay... i might get away with a few workouts... but within the week... here comes the pain... i am not talking about workout pain... i am talking about muscles so sore it hurts to touch them.... not usually unbearable... but remember, i have a huge pain tolerence... so the most recent flare up started about 3 weeks ago... i have gone off milk... doesn't really help... i have gone off gluten... no big improvement... but may try this again... truth be told, it may not have been long enough... i do know that when my allergies flare, i will often have a flare... so i have known for a long time that it was inflamatory... but i still need a name... so i went today... doc is running a few more test.. but i think i need to see someone new... a new perspective... but this time... no mention of my perfession will be mentioned (at least in the beginning)... the scary thing is, i know my body... unlike anyone i have ever met... probably a combination of my knowledge, my sheer number of weird physical issues and my intuition... I can almost immediately feel inflamation, hormone surges, etc... i know days before my asthma flares...and yes, i start my meds... the hormones... well, can't do a darn thing about them except honor them... lovely thing, hormones... can't live with them.. won't get you off of a muder charge.... so the diagnosis... still awaits me... the most recent tests might finnaly push us in a good direction, or it may make things more mysterious.... the one test, may, if positive... show that i have a lack of some of the immune complexes... good i might have a diagnosis... bad i may be on shots for the rest of my life... it is a tade off... i probably have some weirdo disease that only men over 60 get.... and since i am a women under 45... they aren't even looking fo it... lol... thanks for listening... smooches...

It's Monday...

well, it's monday... not much going on... i worked this past weekend, felt like it went by pretty fast... then came monday... strange day, monday... for most people, it is the beginning of their work week, for me, the end... so, i am often very tired on monday... and have a bad case of friday-itis... but today i am not busy enough to be distracted from how tired i am... and at the same time, the thought of being too busy makes me more tired... but the sun is shining and i really want to be outside... but then i go out to lunch and remember how cold it is... strange day monday... full of kunundrums...
well here's to tuesday.. it will be warmer... hopefully the sun will be out... i will be off work... so maybe i might actually get enough sleep to be awake...
good-day.

A Walk in the Woods....

have you ever heard of Highland Sanctuary?... if you have not, you need to check it out. it is one of the largest private land conservencies in ohio... so, as many of you know, z turned the big 4-0 last year... so instead of having a party... she wanted a quiet get away, just the 2 of us... no kids. she wanted to go and be in the woods, do a little hiking and just be...(so who's present was this anyway...LOL) so we made reservations to go to the sanctuary... we booked a small cabin... 1 bedroom... adults only... took a ton a of food, some journals, some music, lots of crap for hiking ... well, you get the picture... it was september and he weather was perfect... it rained a little, but all was good... after all, we were going to a gorge... miht as well be water in it, right?... so, day one, we went and hiked the 7 caves area... very beautiful there were 2 trails that we did... on the one we felt very uneasy.. almost like we were intruding..., but once we got about 1/2 way done, the feelings of intrusion went away and we were left in awe of the trees that were 2500 years old!!! so being late in the day... we opted for a nice quiet night at the cabin... we hunkered in and talked for hours... it was one of the quietest places i have ever been... so our plan for the next day was to walk the trail called the Kamelands... everyone kept telling us this was their favorite... ok... so we did our research... talked to one of the rangers, asked about the terrain... we love to hike... but we also know our limits... so we got up the next morning... and set out for the Kamelands... we were supposed to check out at 1, but since no one else was coming, they told us just to take our time... so we arrive at our trailhead... the pamplet said it was a 2 mile loop... so being sore from the day before, we took our time... it was beautiful... rolling grasslands, heading into an old growth forest of oaks that would wind along the opposite edge of the gorge we walked the day before... what could possibly go wrong... so we walked... and we walked... and we walked some more... and we were still in the woods... it wasn't a difficult hike... but hike we did... so I looked at the map... we had been walking for a solid 2 hours... z was getting uneasy... i was ok, but very tired... so we stopped and had a snack... i looked at the map... and if it was right... we were just over half way there... oh... this is not good... i was already exhausted... i had not packed for a half day hike... i had packed for a 2 mile hike... we had gone WAY past 2 miles... and there was more to go... so after another 1/2 hour or so... we finally came back to the grasslands... ok, certainly we were almost back at the car... I could sit, all would be well... but wait... we had not joined back with the main trail yet... we were still in the loop... and now we were in the sun (not a good thing for me...) so we walked... and we walked... at this point I just wanted to sit down... but if I got down, i was not sure i could get back up... so i kept on going... i knew z was in panic mode... i knew she was worried about me... i knew she was already making a plan in case i collapsed... and i wasn't too sure i wouldn't... so i took 40 steps... and rested... and took 40 more and rested... we would be going up one of the gently rolling hills... and kept thinking... certainly... this had to be the last hill... yeah... not that lucky... at one point, i stopped and leaned on my walking stick...and fell asleep standing up... wow... exhaustion was not even the word for it... at another point i kept thinking... i am so going to hurl... just like on The Biggest Loser... but i kept that in check too... about the time i was going to say... just go get the jeep and find a way to come get me... there it was... the main trail!!! what a site for sore eyes, and legs and arms and feet.... it had been over 3 hours at this point... i knew where we were... but i also knew we had another 0.8 miles to go... and strangely... there were hills we didn't even remember walking... but walk them we did... and finally... the site i was waiting for... the barn where our car was... after 3 hours and 45 minutes of almost non stop walking... we were at the car... we had survived... i had made it through the single hardest physical challenge i have ever done... but i made it!! i was so proud that i did not give up... that i took the time to read my body and found the strength to push forward and complete the hike... this is one for my history book!!
So what did i learn... first... always pack a sports drink! even for a "little" hike... second... never trust anyone who says it's an easy hike... and last but not least... stay calm. if i would have allowed myself to panic, i would never have made it. oh yeah... ummm... my final message is... GET IN SHAPE!!!! hiking is a passion of mine... but what was supposed to be a 2 mile hike turned into a 4+ mile hike... i should be able to do that... after all... i am only 41... so i have made a vow... i am going to get in shape and i am dragging z back out on that trail and we are going to conquer it... we are going to take our time, we are going to pack a lunch... and we are going to make it the beautiful hike that it is...
so here is to challenges!!!
What are you going to accomplish this year?