My Men of Memorial Day

Memorial Day at my parent’s cabin was wonderful.

As usual.

It’s interesting, as I look at the photos I took,
I only got photos of the guys.
My dad.
My husband.
My son.
My son-in-law.
My nephew-in-law.
And my grandson.

No photos of my mom,
or daughter,
or sister,
or niece.

What’s up with that?

Oh well…
Too late to change all of that.
Here’s some pictures of my men
on
Memorial Day
weekend.

My dad gave Scooter the job of cleaning bird poop off the deck railing.
Not a pleasant job, as you can see.
(He’s not crying. He’s grossed out!)

My Dad let us play hairdresser on him after he washed his hair.
What a great sport!

There is no well at the cabin.
(One will be dug this summer.)
So, my dad has to haul water from the community well.
He hauls it in this big 300 gallon tank and then pumps it into a 1,000 gallon tank in the basement.
When you have 10 people staying at the cabin,
we go through a LOT of water, so he has to haul it frequently!
He’s really looking forward to getting that well!

Not a photo of a man, but I practiced my photography with some small wild flowers!

This pic makes me laugh.
The guys were being so goofy with their pellet guns!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
So, here’s the drama from the weekend.
While I was out practicing photography, I had Lola Dog with me.
I guess I was being too quiet because next thing I knew, a herd of antelope
went racing past me (within about 20 feet of me).
I didn’t know they were coming. They didn’t know I was there.
I thought they had gotten far enough past me without Lola seeing them, so I didn’t hold on to her.
Unbeknownst to me, there were 3 stragglers behind the group of 7 that had just run past.
Lola Dog saw them and off she went, racing to catch them so she could play.

I was only wearing slip on shoes and I’m horribly out of shape, but I had to run to try to catch her.
Sadly, I don’t run as fast as a dog chasing a herd of antelope.
Thankfully, my sister’s car drives as fast.
She and Beast jumped in her car, picked me up and we attempted to find the animals.

We found the antelope with no problem.
They were spooked and still running.
But we couldn’t see Lola Dog.
However, 3 deer had jumped into the fray, were further ahead of the antelope, and were running down the hill.
It was possible Lola decided she wanted to chase deer.
I jumped out of the car and started up one side of the hill where the antelope were.
Beast jumped out of the car and decided to search going down the other side of the hill where the deer had run.
(Keep in mind, we had seen a wolf the night before. A night out in the wild for my pampered dog
would mean certain death.)

As I was starting up the hill, I got a text and a phone call that Lola had abandoned her chase and
had returned (on her own) to the cabin.
So, that meant I had to chase my sister and Beast down and tell them everything was okay.
Red was easy. She heard my whistle.
But Beast didn’t hear it and once we got to the spot where he jumped out of the car,
he was gone. Outta sight. Outta ear shot.
We yelled.
We whistled.
We couldn’t find him!
BEAST!!! WHERE DID YOU GO!!

By this time, my mom had joined the search. She went down another connecting road to look for him.
She couldn’t see him.
We yelled.
We whistled.
Holy cow! What were we going to do?
Had he sacrificed everything for a lousy dog?

Finally, I gave one final yell,
”BEAST!!!!”
and I heard a faint,
“Yeah?”

I could hear him, but couldn’t see him in the sea of sagebrush and prairie grasses.
Finally, I saw him.
He was a long way away.
He must have busted his rear end to find that dog.
His devotion and sacrifice is inspiring.
What a good guy!

He was almost to the other road, so we told him to continue and we’d pick him up.
This is how we found him.
Wiped out.
Exhausted.
Plus, he had thrown up twice in his exhaustion.
Poor guy.

See the steep hill on the left of the picture. Just out of sight there is where he started.
It’s pretty much straight down, and straight up.
Beast, you’re the hero of the weekend!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Chip was darling all weekend, in spite of being constipated.

My Dad and Flynn look at the remaining 300 gallons as it empties into the basement tank.

We took lots of mini hikes and walks over the weekend.
Even though the skies were grey, it was great walking weather!

Getting ready for the family picture.
See, there were girls at the cabin this weekend!

Papa and Squirt.
How cute is this?!?

Scooter and Papa head for the ravine full of trees.
We were looking for elk and antelope.
Maybe a bear.
Hopefully not a bear because
I forgot to take Lola’s leash.
I guess I’m a slow learner.
But we found no wildlife.
Just lots of trees.
Tall, old trees.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
And I close with two parting photos:

Is it a wolf?
Is it a coyote?
Most people lean toward coyote,
but my cousin who was a ranger in Yellowstone
says it’s a wolf.
I’m sticking with her answer.

And this, my friends, is why we love it up here!

Give Me a Hand

I did it!
I’m a survivor.

WAHOO!

Three weeks ago I embarked on an adventure no one believed I’d be able to survive.
I told (a few) people what I was going to do
and 90% responded the same,

“YOU’RE DOING WHAT?!”

The doctor didn’t try to talk me out of it, but he didn’t exactly encourage it.

His nurse told me – flat out – that I was crazy.

The receptionist at the dentist’s office said, “why in the world would you….?”

My parents, who had been through the same ordeal 25 years ago, were encouraging.

And Flynn, the amazing husband he is, said
”GO FOR IT!!”

So, what did I do?

I had CARPAL TUNNEL RELEASE SURGERY.

Which really isn’t a big deal.
Not in the grand scheme of things.
(Especially considering my brother’s fiancé had major brain surgery only about 10 days after my hand surgery!)

But, having surgery on BOTH hands at the same time can be a little incapacitating.
Think about all the things you use your hands for…
* Opening doors
* Drinking/Eating
* Personal Hygiene
* Driving
* Getting dressed

That’s just a SHORT list of basic things. Without your hands, you’re….

well….

HANDLESS!!

So why have both hands operated on at the same time?

The answer can be summed up in two words:
I’M CHEAP!

I don’t want to pay for
(2) anesthesiologists
(2) OR’s
(2) Recoveries
(2) of EVERYTHING!

So, I made the plunge and did both.

I’ve said it since the beginning…
I have NO REGRETS!
None, whatsoever.
I promise.

I wasn’t nervous the day of the surgery.
We stopped at my parent’s house on the way to the hospital so
Flynn and my dad could give me a priesthood blessing.
I felt calm… cool… collected.

I checked into the hospital thinking I was going to have the surgery under local anesthesia,
but after talking to the anesthetist, we decided that since we were doing
BOTH HANDS
general anesthesia was a better option.
I didn’t think I wanted general, but after we talked about it,
I realized I really didn’t want to be awake while a team of people were slicing into my hands.
General was just fine with me!

We did the surgery at the hospital 1/2 mile south of Zion.
No regrets on that choice either.
It was a GREAT experience!
They put that beautiful paper-ish gown on me.
It’s big and bulky because it has a tube that attaches to it that fills it full of nice, warm, comfy air.
Yes, the gown is hideous.
Especially the with it being the color it is…
Can we say BEACHED WHALE?
At least I was a warm beached whale, right?

I also loved how the surgeon wrote the word
BOTH
on both of my wrists with a sharpie marker.
Whatever it takes to remind him what he’s doing!

I don’t remember much after this picture was taken.
I remember the anesthetist coming up and doing something with my IV,
people started rolling my bed  down a hall,
and I looked at him and I said,
”HEY! I feel weird!”
He just smiled at me and said,
”You’re supposed to!”
I was awake long enough to make it to the OR,
but right after they wheeled me in I was OUT!

The surgery only lasted about an hour.
But let me tell you, I got 8 hours of amazing, great sleep in that one hour!
I wish I could sleep like that every night!!

The next thing I remember is waking up
– having a conversation I don’t remember —
with the recovery nurse.
Flynn was there too.
But I didn’t notice him right away.
I was concerned I’d say something that would embarrass me,
but Flynn says I just held a normal conversation.
Seriously… Me? Normal?
I hope he’s not lying!

I honestly don’t remember having that oxygen thing in my nose,
which disappoints me.
I’ve always wondered what they feel like.

Cute socks too?
Another forward fashion accessory from the hospital.

Oh! And see the tube going into the sock on the left?
That’s the IV that started in my arm BEFORE the surgery.
Why did they move it from my arm to my foot?
Geez! If I would have known they’d be looking at my feet, I would have had a pedicure!
Flynn says it didn’t come out easily.
Thank heavens I was doped up.
I didn’t feel it.

Flynn took the week off work to stay home and help me.
What a great guy!
I don’t think I could ever say enough words that would describe how grateful I am to him
for everything he did for me that week.
And when I say “everything he did”, it’s because he did
EVERYTHING!!
I can’t list all the things he did, because the list will be too long.
He knows and I know and that’s really what’s important.
I love him for it and I’ll be forever grateful to him for the tender loving care he showed me.

Recovery hasn’t been as quick as I’d like.
I thought I’d have full function of my hands faster than what I have.
I can do most everything except the things I really want to do…
like play the piano.
I’m dying to sit down and play the songs that hurt before.
But I’ll get there.
The basic functions are back and we are doing fine.
Flynn, sadly, had to go back to Flatlandia and I miss him more than ever.

But the good news is…
my carpal tunnel symptoms are GONE!
I can go all night without my hands going to sleep!
I can take photos and edit them on the computer for longer than 15 minutes!
The discomfort I feel in my hands and wrist is all surgery related.
(Believe me, after typing this long post, I’ll definitely need to take some ibuprofen!)

Like I said before,
NO REGRETS!!

And if you’re a carpal tunnel sufferer, you may not be as insane as me and have them both done at the same time,
but please, end the suffering!
GET THEM DONE!!

This was right after we took the bandages off (day 5)
You can see extensive bruising, especially on the left hand.
You may not be able to notice the big black bruise on the palm of the left hand.

The day we took the stitches out.
Not a pleasant experience, but it’s over with.

 

Me, drugged up and trying to be creative with the camera on my phone.
The bandage on my foot is where the IV was.