A Sign Of Spring

At our house you can tell it's springtime by looking at the windows. The sun has come around the mountain and shines on the living room windows which say without a doubt, "wash me!!" Over the years I have tried to find the perfect way to get streak free windows and now have it perfected. I can't take the credit for this revelation as it was revealed to me by the professional window cleaners who do some of our hard to reach windows outside and our skylights. Their concoction is 1 part denatured alcohol (we buy the gallon can) to two parts water. First I clean the window with a hot wet cloth (it gets off the layer of grime and dust) and then go over it again with a different cloth and the alcohol solution. I then dry the window quickly with a dry lint free cloth followed by a good quality chamois cloth. The windows have no smudges or streaks. Window cleaning is taking me a little longer this year since my left hand is not fully functional and my right hand tries to remind me, "enough already", but we'll get it done....now if Hank can keep his nose slobber off the lower panes that would be appreciated.

Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do

As you may know I am going to physical therapy twice a week. As I heal, especially my incision, my therapist, Scott, (I thought I would try to humanize him with his name) has started to work on my scar tissue. After a few minutes of deep "massage" which puts at least four fingers wondering when the electrical storm hit, I asked him if everything would just go back in place when he was done and he said "oh no...I'm trying to break up the scar tissue so the nerves and tendons can function again..........uh huh. Something must be working as I was able to eat with two hands tonight for the first time....I'm not sure I will tell Scott, though, I don't want him to become over zealous.

Dusty Drawing Table

So I was downstairs yesterday and walked past my drawing table...and felt a wistful melancholy as I looked at a drawing I had still not completed when I had two good hands and wondered what would I be able to draw now that things have changed. So I walked over and picked up one of my blending pencils and proceeded to see what would happen. I can't hold a pencil even remotely like I did before because of my thumb not bending but I found I could hold it!! That seemed like a start for me so I plan to try to get back at it and even if the brain and hand find it awkward going it will still be a more fun therapy than the other not so fun exercises.

"Surprise" Popovers

Today I'm cooking soup for tomorrow night. Most every Sunday evening we have soup for dinner and very often popovers. I have been working on this recipe over the last year with mixed success. Sometimes they turn out perfectly and other times they are hockey pucks. So I have altered a few things and for about the last 6 or 7 tries they have come out perfectly. The reason I call them surprise is that BJ and I wait with some trepidation as we watch them rise in the oven and then the final test is how easily they come out of the pan. So as I am reassuring him that all will be well I must admit that I continue to be surprised that they are successful once again. Aren't they gorgeous???...pass the butter, please.

Hopefully, the "no surprise" recipe:

1 & 1/4 cups milk
1 & 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs

Prepare a good quality popover pan, preferably nonstick. I grease it generously with crisco. Mix together well the milk and eggs with a wisk or hand held beater. When you measure the flour, just scoop it into the measuring cup and level off. Mix the flour with the salt and then add to the milk mixture. Blend well but it's ok that the batter is not completely smooth...tiny lumps are ok. Fill the cups so that they are about 2/3 to 3/4 full...don't scrape the bowl. I put the baking rack on the second to lowest position. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 20 minutes. Reduce the temp to 325 and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Remove immediately from the popover pan and enjoy!

Liquid Gold

Today was the first day to soak my hand in my new parrafin wax "spa". Four dips of my hand and then I wrap it up in saran wrap and then in a thick towel and let it "cook" for about 15 minutes. It's quite wonderful and I plan to do this three times a day and hopefully it will help ease the tightness and swelling as well as make it easier to do the "therapuetic" stretching exercises afterwards.

EMG

So the reason for my trip off island yesterday was to have an EMG, or electromyogram. This was ordered by my hand surgeon to try to see why I still cannot bend my thumb and why it continues to feel like it is starting to come to life after being sleep. An EMG consists of two parts..the first is a nerve conduction study which measures the electrical activity of the muscle. It's rather benign and feels a little like wearing Hank's correction collar on "low to medium". Not that I have worn his collar but I did test it on myself when we got it and decided I did not want to feel it on "high". The second part is a needle EMG which measures how well and how fast the nerves can send electrical signals. This part of the test does a better job of keeping you on full alert but is tolerable and the entire test takes just a little over a half hour. As with most diagnostic tests you can't get squat out of the diagnostician so I will have to wait until I see the surgeon on May 6.

As I Was Saying....

..in one of my previous blogs about trees and when they fall, how appreciative we are that they don't do so in the middle of the night...the night before your's truly has to get up before the crack of dawn to catch the red eye ferry...Well, yesterday I had to catch the early ferry for an off island medical appointment and as I headed down the mountain just below our neighbor's house, there was this tree...no...there was this monster fir tree that lay perfectly across the road. After expressing myself in another language, I hurried to turn around and raced home to get BJ. He correctly determined that this was a job for Deere John and went to grab the chain saw and off he went. I did my best to "help" by shining my headlights on that monster but it was no easy thing to saw through. After much work with the chain saw BJ was finally able to push one end of the tree out of the way so I could speed to the ferry...with barely 10 minutes to spare. Bless that tractor. Thank goodness it wasn't tourist season or I wouldn't have gotten on. BJ then spent the next six hours cleaning up and moving logs. I think Deere John is forever part of the family as long as we live on the mountain!

Daniel

Today at church was Compassion Sunday. This is the once a year opportunity at our church to sign up to sponsor a child living in poverty. After our trip to South America there are many memories of needy children's faces that we saw along the way. I have always wanted to do this but never made the commitment before today. So we chose a little boy, Daniel, who lives in Bolivia. For us it had to be a South American child. Daniel will be 7 in September. I hope his journey in life will be helped by the little we contribute and that he will learn that two older people so far away care about him and are praying for him and his family. If you are interested in learning about this organization you can go to www.compassion.com.

Points To Ponder

From this week's church bulletin:

Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in His great campaign of sabotage. C.S. Lewis

The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule. Albert Einstein

If you cannot serve, you cannot rule. An Ancient Proverb

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just. Pascal

Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices. Alfred A. Montapert

Little Bits Of Normalcy

BJ is finally getting a break from KP duty. I have regained my kitchen sink skills and can now do dishes as well as dry. Another HUGE accomplishment today was drying my hair and styling...although that may be a stretch of the word. It was not the most comfortable experience but liberating all the same. Thank goodness I have an easy hairstyle. My next big goal is attaching Hank's prong collar and tying tightly my walking shoe laces. Oh, the things that are taken for granted in life.

Peeling Carrots And Dog Upchuck

Nothing like heading out to the kitchen in the morning to start breakfast and finding dog upchuck on the floor. Poor boy, Hank, must have gotten sick during the night but to his credit he had tried to get outside and mostly missed the rugs...thank you Hank. He was sick again awhile later but seems to be better this afternoon....it's rice on the menu for him tonight until we see how that stays down. Last evening I peeled carrots and gave Hank a small piece as he is passionate about carrots, but it's hard to imagine that caused all the upsets. But hey, peeling carrots..great occupational therapy especially since I used the peeler in the left hand..whoo hoo!

On another note it feels like we are mimicking the Amazon with deforestation as we had 3 trees taken down today. This is all in preparation for the garage we would like to build to complete the homestead here but maybe we will also get a little more afternoon sun now. Anybody need firewood?

Good News, Bad News

Another long day off island. A 9:40 doctor appointment and the next ferry home...3:35...grrr. The good news is that I don't have to go off island for therapy, like to a hand specialist...I guess the surgeon is convinced enough that I am getting appropriately beaten up with my current therapist. The bad news is that I still cannot bend my thumb and he is concerned there is nerve damage or pressure on the thumb nerve or whatever. So next week I will have an EMG or nerve conduction study to see what pathways are screwed up. I still have a lot of swelling so maybe that is having an impact as well, I am trying to stay positive. He hinted at the possibility of additional surgery to explore the nerve issue...are you kidding me????? In the mean time I keep talking to my thumb...bend baby, bend!

Physical "Therapy"

When I think of "therapy" I think of something that makes you feel better, don't you? So why am I in such a world of hurt when I come home from the "therapist"? The fact that I am hot packed with wonderful heated towels when I first arrive does a lot to lull me into thinking I'm at a spa. And then the therapist asks, "so are 'we' ready"???? What's this "we" stuff. The fact that I am not able to move my wrist or fingers a certain way does not deter the "therapist". He does not believe that it cannot move and proceeds to show me. He tries to distract me by chatting and asking questions such as have I taken any nice trips lately and I say, "none that are far enough away from you!" He laughs but he laughs alone. I have to see him again in two days but I see the surgeon tomorrow and maybe he will agree that things are healing well enough on their own and that the therapist can fill my spot with someone more needy. One can only hope. I'm ready for that glass of wine now, BJ.

Seekers And Finders

Taken from our church bulletin this morning:

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. Saint Augustine

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. G.K. Chesterton

If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away? C.S. Lewis

I do not seek. I find. Pablo Picasso

There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they know him and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him. Blaise Pascal

God doesn't seek for golden vessels and does not ask for silver ones but He must have clean ones. Dwight L. Moody

No Fail Pork Chops

I thought I would share this recipe. I have tweeked it over time and now think I have it right, in fact it's so easy even a one handed cook can do it! The secret is to start out with the right pork chops. They should be pork loin chops, but the ones that look like little T bones, don't substitute anything else. Season them on both sides with your favorite seasonings, I like to use a little creole seasoning for some extra kick. Heat a little oil in the fry pan and quickly brown on both sides.

Next, lay them out in a 9x13 pan which nicely holds 6 if you want. Smother them with fresh sliced mushrooms. For those of you who don't like mushrooms, I send my sympathies. Next, mix well one can of cream of mushroom soup with a half can of water and spread over the mushrooms. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 275 for 3 hours. No peeking. Serve with rice as there is wonderful gravy when they are done. As BJ says, "mighty fine"...course that could just be because he did not have to cook them. Enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Therapy

Nothing makes me feel more at home or more normal than baking, especially a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I had no idea it took so much effort to scrape the dough from one spoon onto the cookie sheet. Surely that counts for some physical therapy for the day! Also lifting one from the plate to the mouth with the injured hand counts as well...good repetitive motion! Yum. I can feel the healing.

One advantage of being gone all winter is coming home and finding that the sun has come around the mountain and now shines on the deck. Someone else is also happy to be getting his

Vitamin D.

Trees

Trees are meant to be upright but on the way home from therapy, a HUGE tree had fallen over "single lane", you know that one lane passage coming up the mountain. I had no cell phone so I backed up and headed back to town to go to the market to call BJ. No answer. So I called our neighbor, Don, and he headed over to get BJ. On my way home again, our other neighbor was already on the scene and had most of it cleared away. BJ headed down there on "Deere John" to do additional cleanup. Another reminder to keep a chain saw in the vehicle and have a cell phone to call the chain saw operator! I'm always grateful when these things don't happen on the way to catch the red eye ferry! Mountain living, ya gotta love it...and we do..most of the time.

Here I Go!

Two "people" happy to be home!

Always happy to give kisses.

I have been so inspired by Katri's blog over the last few years and BJ and I had fun keeping up our blog of our travels so I wondered, "is there anything worth recording in MY life??" That will certainly be up for interpretation over time!! If nothing else it will be a good source of information when I need to remember something trivial or important and that need seems to be growing every year! Since we returned home from our cruise I have been trying to focus most of my attention on the healing of my hand. I can now type with two hands or I should say one right hand and one finger on the left. Other accomplishments are hooking my own bra, filing my own nails and flossing my teeth thanks to Katri sending me these nifty little floss picks. Who knew they made such things. I'm still not a huge help in the kitchen, especially when it comes to chopping, but BJ has been a saint helping in that area as well. I do believe the true test of a marriage is when one spouse becomes incapacitated and the other steps up without complaint. I think some would call that love. I have to get ready now for physical therapy which I have renamed legalized torture but hope to write again soon.