Christmas Eve 2009

The sun is shining brightly, there is 10 inches of new snow glistening in the sun, and it's 6 degrees (with a windchill of -8) outside. Gimpy did not appear yesterday, but he and his buddies have already eaten a quarter-pound of nuts today and are starting on their next helping. The kits had a mad chase and rumble-tumble at 6:30 this morning; one of them launched off the room divider and landed squarely on my left knee, which woke me up quickly. The kits ran outside, saw the snow drifted across half of the patio, and promptly returned inside after I fed them this morning. The local news has just ended, so I turned on the TV music channel, 924, and was greeted with The Trogs singing Wild Thing, which has just been replaced by The Classics IV singing Spooky.... Talk about a blast from the past! I suppose I should turn on the "Seasonal Song" Channel and listen to Christmas music... I did play two CDs of traditional music last night, along with Christopher Parkening playing Bach, and I ended with one of John Hartford's CDs, just for his voice and total irreverence. Speaking of which, have any of you seen the new Bob Dylan song video with him dressed as Santa Claus? It's just too weird for me... I am almost finished reading Spartan Gold, having read a lot yesterday afternoon and this morning - if you want an around-the-world adventure, this one is super! ... I need to finish wrapping family gifts for giving tomorrow, and I'm (heavens!) almost out of Coca Cola, so I'll be headed for the grocery store this afternoon - plus I need to pick up something special for the kits to eat for their dinner tomorrow. I was greatly surprised (and very happy) to receive a large gift card from the Rs' family - and it's a Barnes and Noble card, which combined with my B & N membership, will give me a lot of lasting pleasure. (Do I purchase books, CDs, or DVDs, or a combination?) I'll have to give it a lot of thought. And I want to thank my friend Kathryn, again, for the afghan; it's super warm, just the right size, and the kits seem to love it as much as I do! Finally, I hope that everyone has a wonderful, warm, and stress-less Christmas Eve!

Winter

Dr. Knisley Covered Bridge in Bedford County, Pennsylvania



Di Milo & Venus are ready for Christmas.



Sienna knows she's going to have a white Christmas!

Good and Bad News

OK. It's the usual good news, bad news scenario. No broken bones, but soft tissue damage - possibly a ligament, possibly the meniscus. I was told to make a follow-up appointment with a Dr. Michael Repine, a knee orthopedic specialist, within the next 7 days. Dr. Repine's next available appointment is in the late afternoon on January 11. That's more than 7 days, isn't it? I'm to call this afternoon and tomorrow morning to see if they have had any cancellations.... I was awake most of the night because of the pain; it's pretty dull if the leg is straight and unmoving, but if I bend it by mistake, it'll take my breath away and make me cry. So I'm in a knee immobilizer until seen by Dr. Repine. - Keep it elevated, stay off it, and keep it iced. Dr. Meyers tried to give me pain pills this morning, but I declined. I guess I won't walk the Rs tomorrow, but I start house-sitting on Saturday - oh, boy.
The kids have been very cuddly, but since I'm even slower to get up, they keep climbing back onto me as I try to get out of the right side of the bed with a straight left leg. It's laughable! I finished reading Dick and Felix Francis' Even Money last night, and I'm more than half-way through Clive Cussler's Spartan Gold now. At the moment it looks like there's 6 inches of snow in the back yard, and it's still falling; it was 23 when I got out of bed this morning, and the temperature rose all of 3 degrees today. We hope to get into the lower 30s on Monday - before that, it's all sub-freezing.

Danger: Ice!

...And Betty Went Ker-Splat!

I'm logging on and blogging tonight because I'll be at the MDs office tomorrow morning; so don't be surprised if there isn't a posting until late Wednesday. I went ker-splat on the way home walking the Rs this morning; the fall was in no way their fault, I just placed my right foot the wrong way on some ice. My right foot flew up in the air, and I somehow landed on the inside of my left knee and my right hip, and slid for about 15 feet. I admit I dropped the Rs' leashes - it wouldn't do any good to drag them with me. They immediately sat down and then came over to nuzzle my face, even though we were less than 100 yards from their front door. The knee hurt as soon as it made contact with the ground, and I was a little breathless after the slide, so I sat for a couple of moments and then used the wrought-iron gate of the Waldorf school to get back on my feet. The knee felt numb for the first few steps, but I could already feel the heat and swelling in it. I got the Rs home and then I came home. I've taken Tylenol, and iced the knee, and kept it propped up - but it's four inches larger around than my right knee, and it hurts like stink! It hurts when I move it, it hurts when I put weight on it, and if I try to bend it much, tears run down my face. So I'll go see Colleen first thing in the morning. The weather folks say we'll get 1 to 3 inches of snow overnight - there's already a good half-inch on the ground - and we'll end up with 8 to 12 inches through Thursday morning. They say our high on Christmas Day will be 21 degrees... (sigh)

This 'n' That

Stormy day at the harbor in France



Is Santa a pirate during his off season?



Red deer at Calke Abbey



Di Milo is ready to help trim the tree!

Cloudy Tuesday

It's 32 degrees outside and very cloudy, as we're expecting a cold front around noon, with snow commencing about 4 p.m. The kits have been out, but didn't spend much time; even though Lovey managed to get her toes muddy. So far there has been no sign of Gimpy and his crew, but I did replenish the nut pile. Rosie and Remy were fabulous yesterday! We met 8 other dogs and their walkers while out strolling, and even though a Cairn terrier got up their faces, barking away, the Rs ignored it. My friend Bill was driving the 204 bus yesterday morning, and he picked the Rs and I up and carried us down two stops, as he had no other riders, and he loves dogs. The Rs both barked near the end of our walk; a beautiful red fox trotted out of the woods to our right, crossed the road, and went into Olivier's yard. Both Remy and Rosie went on hunting alert, and while Rosie barked four times, Remy only barked once. Their manners seem to have improved considerably. I start house- and pet-sitting again on Boxing Day, and will return to my own bed on January 5th. As usual, I'll be spending at least 3 hours each day with my kits, and the time that I'm home with them will probably be the only time I have to access the internet, so don't be surprised if my blogs drop off drastically during those 10 days. - Let's see... odds and ends.... I was wrong last week, the flooded race track barns were at Gulfstream Park, not Hialeah. Calder, also in/near Miami, has dropped it's quarantine, as there have been no cases of equine herpes virus in the past two weeks. The Boulder Humane Society is accepting a selection of unwanted Chihuahuas from California societies; and they have also accepted quite a few starving/abused/neglected Husky and part-Husky sled dogs found in South Park. And the weather woman just said we'll be getting 4 to 8 inches of snow before Wednesday afternoon - I guess I'd better go walk the Rs before it starts coming down!