AMONG THE MISSING

Ummm, that would be me... sort of...
I have, once again, had a few inquiries as to my where-abouts. Well, here and there… or mostly here but not quite all there????? I am always amazed at those who can blog everyday. I wish I could be that dedicated. Anyway, for what its worth – here is where I have been – sorta…

OK, excuses:
First, it has been cold. I mean seriously cold – for us! (Philip, stop rolling your eyes.) This morning it was down to 19 F, -7 C. The camellias are frozen little brown crinkled things. There are buds, but it is going to have to do some serious warming up to get any of them to open. It is the first winter in years when we have not had something blooming at sometime during the week if not every day. The only flowers I have are struggling in the greenhouse where I have had to keep the light on sometimes all day, not just at night.

It was SOOOOOOO cold last week-end, I brought Punkin in to spend the night.

The outside cats are real wooly and don’t seem to mind the cold PLUS they have 2 heated boxes they can get into – but Punkin “stands” guard on the greenhouse most of the time. I watched him come out of the “nest” a couple weeks ago and could see what a tight fit it was for his wooly little self – so in he came last week. I spent the night in the living room with him. He was slightly happy when I sat in my recliner and held him. But basically, he was miserable. He would not drink or eat. When he was not on my lap, he was at the back door crying to get out. He ignored the litter box. As soon as the sun was up, I let him out.
The first warm day, last Friday, I added an inch and a half to the height of their nest giving the wooly mammoth more room to get in and out. He spent the night in there last night, with Spook, warm and toasty. He no longer gets even close to the open back door.

I spent last Tuesday glued to the TV set. I have not watched an inauguration since Eisenhower was sworn in – what was it – 1953, when my entire class of 4th graders went over to a classmate’s house to watch. Not many of us had TVs yet in 53. I know we didn’t. Anyway, I watched Obama become the 44th President as some friends and I cheered him on. We were both sorry we weren’t there and grateful we were warm. Plus, we got a much better view!

Otherwise, I have been busy when I have been busy and worthless on the days when I have been worthless. You see, I have been diagnosed with Lyme’s disease. And so – I am on a regimen of heavy doses of antibiotics and then bunches of cleansers to clean the crap out of my system. I have been learning more than I ever wanted to know about Lyme’s – and I will not bore you with my knowledge or lack thereof, to be more precise. I will recommend a couple of books – the Lyme Disease Solution, by Kenneth Singleton, and Everything You Need to Know about Lyme Disease, by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner. There are others, of course, but these are the ones I know a little about.
Basically what I have learned is there are many of us running to doctors with “problems” that just don’t quite fit in the proper niches and get labeled chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, people have even been told they have MS when it was actually Lyme’s. I also learned that Lyme’s can come from the bite of a number of insects – not just ticks – though I have had my share of tick encounters. Lyme’s apparently can come from flea bites, gnats, mosquitoes, flies and mites. It is carried through the blood so you can get it thru a blood transfusion. And NO they do not check for it.
I will spare you a list of my symptoms (as my doctor friend now calls an organ recital, thanks to my neighbor for sharing that one with me) but I will say this. Some days the fatigue is so great, I feel lucky that I have managed to take care of my basic needs and I have to accept the fact that the floor is not getting washed today or the vacuum is not going anywhere. On those days, the brain fog seems greater than usual – and even studying is not an option. Sometimes it takes too much energy to even respond to a blog I have just read. I have been lurking a lot. If I used to read your blog – I probably still am – but it takes too much to let you know. When I do have a bit of energy, it goes into doing the things I absolutely have to do – laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning up after the cats. Some days are spent napping, something I never used to do. But, the masses of bacteria that are being killed is rough on one’s system, the little beggars have really entrenched themselves. Sometimes they are dormant and then POOF! We’re baaaaack! If you know me, I am not a whiner. I have kind of accepted my physical limitations – my car accident – my arthritis – I have not accepted my age yet… I still want to be able to work like I did when I was 25 or 30. Hell, I’d settle for 50, but don’t tell me I am too old to cut my own grass! So for years I have suffered in semi-silence when I just could not do the way I wanted to do or got exhausted so easily – but it got out of control. It got so I was seriously out of breath doing just simple things – making my bed, for example, pulling the laundry out of the washer. I’d be gasping for breath, possibly sweating profusely. So I did the heart Dr thing and the stress test and he said my ticker was OK… but I wasn’t. A friend who had been diagnosed with Lyme’s suggested I go get the blood work done. Long story short – I did. Good news – bad news… I have Lyme's. At least I understand what is going on in my body and I have a chance to make things better. Someone said, “But the treatment is worse than the disease…” Yeah, it is rough, and I am not on the roughest part yet – the part where I have to give up my Starbucks (OMG!) But the treatment will end – without it, the Lyme's gets worse.
So, bear with me. Do not think I have abandoned you. I am still there or here, even when I am not all there.

I did get a new camera, but I have taken only a few pictures with it. I will share a couple of bad/good pictures with you. Please note, I have not even tried my telephoto lens on this camera yet – I am still just trying to figure this lens out and all the quirks with modern technology. These pics are of a pair of Pileated woodpeckers that live here.

They were obviously up in a tree too far to get any color to show up. Best you can do is identify their distinctive shape. The little Nikon would not have gotten this much, so I am proud of what I got. Be patient… the manual is only 200 pages long. I’m on page 14. LOL!

This is a birch tree outside my bedroom window. I just thought it was cool - all the subtle shades.

Yule Tide is behind it... a blue spruce is next to it... It is fun to play with the colors and textures we have all around us. Well, I can't take any snow pictures... so I work with what I have available!
And then I rest.