marking the day

 

Wishing a very Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

~~~~~

cooking with words

Cooking day yesterday.
Part 1: my favorite rice/lentil/quinoa blend.

The temps have been dropped into the teens and 20s F again, interspersed with occasional 40s-50s. The intermittent cold at first slowed the accumulation of mud, but the rains we've been having - did I mention the many days of rain? - are having an effect. On the 24th my neighbor had some time so we spent 6 solid hours burning brush from the tree work he did for me last December. Someday I will write about all the tree work that's been done here over the past year. I've photographed it, I've spent many hours processing it (both in the sense of working up the stove wood and in terms of walking amongst ghosts every day), but I haven't been able to put it into words.

Part 2: cavatappi w spritz of olive oil.

Words have been elusive in general lately, and I apologize for not thanking each of you for your kind comments and messages after my most recent post. I haven't had a day without jaw pain since early February, and it's been bad enough that when the dentist disappeared for a week, I asked my MD for pain medication, which I almost never take even when a doctor advises it. This time? I'm more or less begging for prednisone, which is the only thing that has given me even periodic relief. Two days ago I saw an oral surgeon for a diagnosis, and after a panoramic x-ray (which I heartily recommend as an alternative to the traditional stabby-slides-poked-into-soft-tissue dental x-ray) and a thorough prodding of my teeth, jaw, and what felt like the inner recesses of my brain, he said he could see nothing about my teeth causing the trouble, but my right TMJ appears to be jammed up (I paraphrase) and I should get a mouth guard from my dentist and wear it for a month to see if that will release the TMJ and make life better again.

I'm still waiting for a callback from my dentist while my little supply of prednisone shrinks. A callback, hopefully an appointment and mouthguard ASAP, and let the unjamming begin please. When this is over, it may be time to find another dentist. I had hoped to stay with this one but his availability and the office's efficiency at returning calls has been less than ideal. I keep getting email requests to leave online reviews for the office, and every time I think, "But are you sure I'm still alive? And do you really want me to leave a review right now?"

Part 3: tortellini soup.

Enough about all that. I have always avoided writing much about health challenges on the blog, just as I avoid talking about it in real life, because my pain/fatigue issues are chronic and nobody needs to be bored by that, including me. Living it is enough. Living is enough.

But the occasional jolt of Something Extra in the Pain Department, like this jaw mystery, or the shoulder dislocation in 2024, is different. It's a temporary (touch wood) overlay affecting daily life in a way that means I apparently have to write about it a bit, or not write anything at all. So there it was, and I'll probably write a little bit more when there is progress.

I say all this now to assure readers - and myself - that this blog will not become my personal Organ Recital.

And thank you.

Part 4: eggbites.
I always try to cook 2 or 3 things in sequence 
 when I use the multicooker, but 4 things is 
a new record. Freezer stocked, fridge full.
Cook smug.
Huzzah!

~~~~~

fluctuation

 

Today I saw the slightest hint of a yellow tone on some of the goldfinches at the feeder. Last night I smashed through a thick layer of ice in the goat troughs before plugging the de-icers in again after a few above-freezing days off.  Yesterday I saw Violet moving quietly from tree to tree, standing for extended periods with all four feet in the little arc of snowless ground at the base of each tree. One morning last week the air smelled - to borrow the perfect terminology of e.e.cummings, "mud-luscious." That night we got more snow.

It's the season of variability. Fluctuations daily. Sometimes hourly.

I've been dealing with a dental/jaw problem since January, or possibly since October, if the jaw pain is connected to audiological issues rather than dental. Hard to say. Also hard to live with, so I've been trying to get it resolved through a series of dental appointments. Right now I'm waiting for a callback from the dentist. For the past couple of weeks the pain has made it difficult to even think straight. Example: this very simple post was started yesterday, and it's taken 24 hours to finish.

On the other and unrelated hand, yesterday I got hooves trimmed on three goats instead of the one I had planned, and now that it's pouring rain I plan to coast on that achievement and trim no hooves at all today. Hah.

I hope all is well with you wherever you are, and that all your hoof-trimming is up to date. It's a good feeling.

~~~~~

all a-dazzle

On the way in from chores this morning.

It snowed heavily all afternoon and evening yesterday.

I had an eye appointment at 4 PM for an in-office glaucoma procedure called selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT), and since I very much wish to retain my vision - and the volunteer driver was not at all worried about the driving conditions - I went ahead with the appointment.

 

During that ride I thought about all the years I travelled to Cambridge and back, working on my Master's degree and teaching sections in the evenings. It was 75 minutes each way on a clear day with no traffic. During those years I drove through countless storms - one semester I know it snowed nearly every Wednesday evening, because that was a teaching night for me and I drove through every one of those storms. Now being a passenger on a 10-minute drive to an eye appointment had me gripping an armrest and trying to speak normally to the driver who was not at all concerned about the inches of snow over slush on the roads, cars sliding sideways, and poor visibility. Maybe it's a matter of one's current "normal"? Regular commuters have probably been slipsliding through a lot of weather this year.

This is not a barncam image, it's me in the barn with Mallow and Violet.

Campion, Azalea, and Lily are beyond the fence.

We are all contemplating our options.

The laser procedure itself was painless; now just a few days of eyedrops and waiting for the blurring to diminish. The doctor has been tracking pressure in my eyes for several years and always decided it was "borderline" for glaucoma, so we decided against lifelong daily medication (eyedrops) until there was greater concern. However, during my 6-month post-cataract surgery checkup last week he saw a change and gave me the option of - right now! - either going on lifelong drops or having the SLT procedure first, which may turn out to be all I need. Now we go back to tracking.

Meanwhile, on this sunny Wednesday morning we've got several more inches of snow to wade through,  and a forecast for temps in the low 40s (!) this afternoon. Cannot imagine what it will look like here in the hours and days ahead, but at the moment the entire world is coated with ice and the sun is shining and I'm enjoying the view.

~~~~~

on we march

 

A view looking east from the bottom of the driveway.

Checking the mail and taking a few wintery snaps.

I don't bother to check the mail every day. Like my email, most of my regular mail falls into two categories: either asking me for money (suggesting donations or home improvement projects), or offering me money. The "offers" are usually banks suggesting I acquire debt for a "deserved" holiday trip, or strangers wanting to buy my home "for cash"). Not worth a penguin-walk down to road and back.

The forecast last week included one day in the 30s, so I took a few snaps of icicles before they disappeared. These were taken from inside the house, through a row of south-facing windows. Walk along with me, won't you?

Back to the driveway, halfway up and looking southeast toward the house. Much of that snowload slid off the roof yesterday. This time I heard it. I don't know if you can see (click to embiggen?) the overhanging ice dam that had shaded the north windows in the kitchen, but it is now on the ground, and the kitchen is noticeably brighter.

With the warmer hours, the snow on the ground has gotten heavier and wetter. The paths that have been packed down by daily use over several weeks now only appear "packed down" because at random moments my boots go right through the surface into the soggy snow beneath and I'm suddenly over my knees again. I don't enjoy this type of thing; it's a jolt through the spine every time, and it makes keeping one's balance quite tricky. One morning I dropped every single flake of hay I was carrying to the various shelters. There was some unfortunate language that day. But when I'm not actually in the process of tipping over or dropping feed, I focus on how lucky we've been with the weeks of dry powder and the infrequent high winds. There's no denying that it's been a challenging Winter so far, but it could have been So Much Worse.

And now it's Sunday. 

As soon as I post this it will be time for a round of chores.

Then checking my Seed Inventory for the gardens of 2026.

And it's snowing again.

~~~~~