Happy February!

Well, I had every intention of posting here Saturday on the actual 1st, but the fates were conspiring against me.   Our WiFi decided to go wonky and was super slow and all I was getting was squares with red Xs for my photos.  Grrr.  Then Sunday I wasn't on my desktop at all. 

Really, not much has been going on.  At least not post-worthy.  Work & grocery shopping & laundry don't make for exciting reads. 

On January 24, my sister had hernia surgery and will be laid low for a while.  I took off work to keep Mom company while she waited at the hospital, with every intention of going home as soon as Laurie was released.  Then before she went back, Laurie commented about having to feed the horses at like 4am since she had to be at the hospital at 5:30, and our niece had to work until 7pm so they would be fed super late.  And Mom (who stayed with Laurie for a couple days) made a comment about she didn't think she'd be able to drive Laurie's truck to take her home since she hadn't driven one in years, etc.  That got me thinking.  Mom's not steady on the stairs, how is she going to help Laurie up into the house if she needs it?  So I asked Mom if she thought she could drive the truck the 2 miles to my house.  Then we'd pick up Angel & Angel could follow us in my car while I drove the truck.  Then I could take care of the horses while I was there.  And Mom could spend some time with baby Adam, too!  It was a win all around.

 I love this picture.  

Mom doesn't usually do a *real* smile for pictures. 

Rusty is being very good around the new addition.  He did have an accident where he reached out a paw towards Adam's flailing little feet and accidentally scratched him across the bottom of his foot.  Ooops!  His claws have since been trimmed and Adam's little tootsie is already healed. 

Random graffiti on an overpass that I thought was funny. 

The weekend before Laurie's surgery, I helped her pick up a couple loads of hay and stack in her barn.  On the way back with the last load, we were treated to seeing this spectacular sun pillar.  

I should probably think about taking the snowman blowmolds in for the season.  But it's been so drab & cloudy that some extra light in front of the house has been welcome. 

Smiles!

4 way conversation. 

I love these feets!

So while the WiFi was down-ish on Saturday, I paid some much-needed attention to my plants, taking out some old soil & replacing with fresh.  Cleaning them up & repotting a couple. And other than going to the store, that was the extent of the productivity that happened.  

Yesterday I volunteered to help out the SAR team with K9 training.  Since it was SuperBowl Sunday, there were only 3 people there with dogs and they were happy to see someone else there to help out.    

 It ended up being a nice day to sit on a stool "lost" in the woods, while the puppies looked for me. 

Gunnar here is about a year old.  He's learning to be a scent-specific tracking dog.  He was given my scent article (some gauze that I'd rubbed on my neck & sealed in a Ziploc bag) and he had to find where I went.  Since he's still learning, he got tripped up a little bit by finding where I had walked earlier and followed that trail for a while before he found the fresher scent.   He's such a cutie! 

I got home in plenty of time for me & Angel to go for a walk around the park with Adam in his carrier thingy, before getting ready for the Big Game. 

Quite honestly - we don't care about football.  But we get caught up in the fun & food & excitement & commericals & halftime, etc.    And yes - I enjoyed halftime even tho I only knew one of the songs that JLo did.  I was in awe of her getting on that pole with tights on!  I've taken a pole dance class before & it requires some serious muscles - and tights are slippery!  

My only issue.  There were the 4-100 year old Veterans presented right before the coin toss.  None of the players acknowledged them.  I would have been in awe of meeting them & being able to shake their hands!   But I guess that's just me. 

 

I laughed way too hard at this!  

So that's about it.  I'm done with physical therapy on my arthritic knees.  My therapist told me that ideally they'd be as close to 100% as possible, but I honestly don't remember when the last time was my knees felt 100%!  They feel a lot better, but I still feel something, not really pain, when I climb stairs or get up from a low chair, etc.  And I felt pretty good out in the woods yesterday - and at one point even ran after one of the dogs!  I thought I was going to hyperventilate & die from lack of oxygen but my knees felt good.  I had a check up with my orthopedic doctor today and he noted they still felt crunchy and it hurt like a mofo (again / still!) when he dug his fingers in under my left kneecap.  But he said to keep doing the exercises the therapist gave me & I was too healthy to be there!  Hooray!

Hopefully you're getting some of the sunshine that I got today!