Happy Halloween.

It's been thirty years since we have had trick or treaters. The first year here we loaded up with candy and....not a one. I'd never lived in the country, what did I know. 

Stove, Food, Wood

Neighbor Bill and his son, Bill, Jr spent a couple of hours with us yesterday figuring out what is wrong with my wood pellet stove. Bill Jr found a broken gear in the fuel stirrer motor, so that problem is resolved. I just have to buy a new motor. The son is like the dad, only more. This is per both mom and dad, said proudly.

Our weather has been ten to twenty degrees warmer than normal so we are catching a break on fuel costs. We can use any break we get.  Frieda, aka Kitten Little, has several small toy mice that she gleefully tosses in the air, bats around and tosses again. She was tossing and batting this morning. Then I saw her under the dining table eating. Not a toy, what remained of a small mouse. I picked it up and threw it away, giving her a chin scratch and a good girl. She thought that was fine, until she realized something was gone. Bad me.

I made lunch today with the last of the fresh tomatoes from the garden. The zucchini, onion and sage also came from the garden. I have a few zucchini and squash left, otherwise fresh produce is done, as of today. I'm going to braise stew meat in red wine, beef broth and balsamic vinegar for tonight. 

Mark has been playing lumberjack, making certain I have wood for the long winter season, cleaning up the recently felled trees and trees that have taken themselves down over the past few years. We supply Bill with the wood he burns in his shop. We also gave him the wood stove. It was in our garage and we didn't use it. That was a long time ago. Bill usually works with Mark on the wood cutting but his health concerns are keeping him quiet for now. Three of us falling apart in unison.

That's about it. Life is quiet, which isn't a bad thing. Except for the dog. She's not so quiet.

Molte Grazie

I want to thank everyone who offered their kindness about Mark's and my health problems. It's a bit overwhelming but we are doing ok with it.

I want to clarify my own issue. This is something I've been coping with for over two years. It actually started in 2019 but I didn't think much about it then. Just aching and fatigue in my legs which then became lower back pain but nothing that stopped me from doing things. Over the past couple of years it has become worse. I have been seeking medical attention. Initially it was thought I had spinal stenosis, which I don't. I've been through physical therapy and pain management. Frankly, I started to give up. Then Mark's diagnosis happened. I was sinking further into fatalism, then somehow I snapped out of it. 

I realize I need to push more. I'm an older, overweight woman who presents with pain. I'm told to exercise more, lose weight, do stretching, etc. There has been no testing for a medical condition, other than the initial spinal stenosis thought. Then I'm told to take pain medication. Mark wants to be with me on this visit because he has come to understand women get ignored. He wants to advocate for me and I've decided to let him. There are many conditions with my symptoms but none of them are being addressed. I went, over the course of a couple of years, from an active person caring for a lot of horses, a large house and property to someone who can barely cross a room. I tend toward stoicism  so perhaps I'm not adequately expressing myself. I'm also fairly accomplished at pushing things aside and feeling all will be fine if I only do "this". None of "this" is working.

Anyway, I appreciate being able to express these things here and I appreciate the kindness I receive. I have to wait a couple of weeks for the appointment but this time I expect more.

Troubles

 

We are on a medical mystery tour. Mark had a biopsy on several areas of the prostate and four of the five are cancerous. He has a bone scan scheduled for next week as bone cancer is common with prostate cancer. We have a consult appointment with the urologist the following week. He saw the dermatologist yesterday and a cancerous area that was removed on his arm looks concerning to him so he has referred Mark to another clinic that can do imaging testing on it. Mark has always been fit and healthy. This is a shock for both of us. 

Now my part of the medical mystery tour. I am regressing physically. I now need a cane to walk, it's no longer just added support. I wear out and become out of breath quickly. I had just mopped about ten square feet of the living room floor and had to quit. So I decided while I rested I'd write about the problems. After the news with Mark I didn't want to deal with my own health but today I decided not to wait and made an appointment for myself. It's time this gets treated like something serious. 

So, that's the story. The old fogies are falling apart before their very eyes. Well, I'm visibly falling apart. Mark still looks ten years younger than he actually is. People are going to start thinking I'm his mother.

The Heat is On

The new furnace was installed yesterday. They were here from 9:00 - 2:00. There were no problems and now we have heat

The son's car was stolen sometime during Monday night/early Tuesday morning. It was found with a seized engine a few miles away. Now they go through the insurance maze. Stealing cars and car parts has really ramped up. Yesterday was a bad day for them.

Bill plans to fix my wood pellet stove on Saturday. That will mean all of my heating options should be good to go before the long winter sets in. Then we just need to pick up a pallet of pellets. We have waited just incase it doesn't work.

I roasted a pie pumpkin yesterday for future pumpkin pie. It's been several years since I have made a pie. I tend toward galettes these days, so much easier. I also roasted a sheet pan of tomatoes that were getting soft, the last from the garden. That roasting turned into dinner with sausage and kalamata olives. Dinner took the time it takes for pasta to cook. Can't beat that!

It's chilly but the sun is out. One dead tree is mostly cut up for burning and I actually feel some motivation creeping into my system. Probably because I don't want Bill to see the dust and dog hair in the living room! I still have some pride. That whole part of the house could disappear for the amount of time we use it. Like, never.

Off to it. Keetah's barking, again. More animated so it may actually mean something. Probably not. Take care. Ciao.

Soup and Such

I haven't been inside a grocery store since I was at Costco in February 2020. This sounds like a confession.

I got an order from Thrive Market yesterday. I'm still not used to Sunday deliveries but I suppose online shopping has increased by a lot and there are only so many hours in a day, leading to another day to be added into the schedule. Can you believe that small amount of items cost $60? Life is high-priced.

Which brings me to a favorite subject. Soup! This was a busy week for me, I made two different soup stocks, both pork based. This is smoked pork shank with cannellini, fennel, chard and the usual mirepoix. I had bones from pork chops in the freezer and made another stock to use with lentils. The freezer is overfull, I need to stop. But it's one of the few things I can do right now. It make me feel useful. Conundrums.

Tomorrow the new furnace will be installed. I hope it goes fast and easy. Scott said they are smaller now, even though the one being replaced isn't that old. Fingers crossed this will be the last furnace we buy.

Mark has cut the dead pine that was felled a couple of days ago into burnable pieces. I looked up burning pine, as I was always told not to. Every site I went to said it's ok as long as it's dry. It's been dead for a few years, so it's dry. The large box elder is too big for Mark's chain saw so he will have Junior cut that one for him. Maintaining trees on this place is a never-ending job. The chapters of our lives would make a riveting book! 

That's it from my small patch of earth. Take care.

La Dolce Vita

I'm in soup mode. It may be mid 70s Fahrenheit but it's soup season by my reckoning. I had some pork bones in the freezer along with the toss-away parts of a leek, some fennel stems and celery ends. I get an enormous amount of pleasure making stock from items normally put in the bin.

I read a longtime friends blog this morning. I met her in 2008 from blogging. She is an American who has lived a long time in Denmark. She had gorgeous photos of a sunrise she took while over Paris. She was stopping in Paris and then going on to Valencia. What a life! I also know her in person from her several visits over the years when she returned to the US. It's amazing what technology has allowed, not all of it good, but much is. I got to know a smart, fun woman, her lovely Danish husband and her beautiful, intelligent daughter because of technology. Imagine!

As I looked at the photos, read where she was and where she was going, the phrase La Dolce Vita came to mind. Indeed. 

I thought as I was making soup this morning about how we are truly the sum total of our existence, our experiences. We choose some and some are chosen for us. I chose a life that precludes travel. I did travel some before I chose this life, but having upwards of forty horses, three stallions and a bunch of youngster of varying ages does tend to keep one home. It has been interesting, frustrating, awe-inspiring and heartbreaking. Looking back, I realize I forget how wonderful that life was. How I did something most people don't think about, ever. And don't want to. But I spent the second half of my life immersed in magnificent creatures who had the ability to kill me, but who listened to my words, nickered when they saw me and allowed people to climb aboard and ride off.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to travel again and truthfully, I don't think I care. I enjoy the escapades of others, I have wistful moments and I'm glad I do. It means I'm still human. It means I'm still curious.

My La Dolce Vita is here. 

Goth Homer

As promised. The son sent me a photo of Homey in his bad dude outfit. He dotes on his Homer. He told me Homer was enjoying the trails so much he almost forgot to ask for biscuits! Matthew found Homer as a stray. He was walking along the creek in his neighborhood and this little dog was walking along with him. He was a little thin but not too scruffy. Matthew called me saying he didn't know what to do. I told him you cannot leave the dog, take him home. See if he is chipped and put him on lost dog sites. They did. They also put up found dog signs in the area. No one claimed him, Matthew kept him. That was maybe five years ago. My son dresses his dog up. 🤷

Then yesterday afternoon this happened. Bill's nephew and cousin live down the road to the east of us. His nephew has an excavating business (he buries my horses) and also takes down trees. So does Bill's cousin, take down trees. Junior said he'd fell these two dead trees and showed up yesterday afternoon. It was a family affair, Bill's brother, their cousin and their nephew. No one told Bill because he wouldn't be able to stop himself from getting in the thick of it and he shouldn't. He's going to be annoyed.

This tree was of particular concern. It was close to the house and part of it was over the house. Junior said there wasn't much holding it up. We live in a softwood forest, we are constantly dealing with trees, the ever sprouting saplings and the ever dying mature trees. There's no shortage of firewood.

I was inside , it seemed the best place for me to be. I took video through a porch screen and a window. The boxelder bugs are thick right now. Another effect of living in a softwood forest is much of it is boxelder trees. Ergot...boxelder bugs. My grandma had them at her house, she called them elder bugs.

Projected task of the day is to trim the bushes along the round end of the house. I let them grow too much, they are covering half the windows. I'll see if I hold up. It may be a two day job. It's going to be in the mid 70s today. Mark plans to cut up the trees as much as he can. Junior said he'd do what Mark can't, but I think Bill is going to want to get into that. They have big guns chainsaws. Guys.

 

More of the Same

I got a full ice cube tray from the fronds of three fennel bulbs. Fennel is a favorite of mine.

In the spirit of 2022 my laptop decided it was time to die this morning. I'm not a superstitious person but this is beginning to be a bit much. I am relegated to my office and the iMac. It feels like 2008 all over again, when I started blogging and only had the desktop. So much has changed. Including me, never thought in 2008 I'd be shuffling along with a cane!

We have warm weather through Monday so we are getting a break while we wait for the furnace. My son is camping with a friend, they are getting nice weather. Although I'm not sure it matters that much to him as he camps during winter. That is beyond my comprehension. He needs the break, it's been a stressful time with his wife's family. The mother has cancer again, his wife's twin sister has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and the brother just got a diagnosis of a progressive, debilitating disorder. It's a lot. He, his beloved Yorkie, Homer and his friend, Brian can relax for a few days. Matthew bought Homer an armored coat to protect him from raptors, it has metal spikes. Who knew! You have to like a large man who loves his tiny dog.

I made a huge kitchen mess yesterday and didn't clean it up. That is my task now. Mark has to go into town so he is going to pick up lunch. I have leftover sauce and meatballs so I don't need to make dinner. Other than my big kitchen mess I don't have kitchen food prep duty today. That's fine with me.

Have a good one.

Warmer

 

I seem to have recovered from the shock of buying an unexpected new furnace. I had a whopper of a headache yesterday. The body does not like stress.

The son's brother-in-law got the results from the Mayo. They aren't good. Inclusion Body Myositis. I was interested because what was relayed to me about his symptoms and a lack of diagnosis is very much like my own. I hope I don't have this because it is progressive, thought to be an autoimmune disorder. I do have something to present to my doctor, which is good and I don't need to go to Mayo to have the tests done. It's someplace to turn, other than take acetaminophen and try to walk more.

It's a nice day with filtered sunshine. Mark needed to go to a client in the northern suburbs of the twin cities this morning. He said he and the bookkeeper stood outside in the sun being Chatty Cathy. She is a new grandmother and is over the moon. Her positivity made him feel good.

On the home life side of things, I have a stock simmering for smoked ham, white bean and fennel soup. Misfits Market finally had fennel. They have a much better price than the local market so I wait for it to be available. Of course tomorrow will be in the upper 60s F and the weekend in the 70s, but it's still autumn and that makes it soup weather, no matter the temperature. Mark has been fussing over eggplant I haven't used so I will be roasting it and onions and tomatoes for another soup. I cut the stems with the fronds from the fennel and processed it as I do basil; in the food processor with olive oil, then in an ice cube tray and frozen. Store in the freezer in a bag. Waste not, want not. The never ending excitement of the mostly homebound.

That's about it from my little patch of this earth. May life be good to you.