Last Try

Been hearing a lot of bad things about Blogger lately hope it doesn't begin to give us issues we have enough going on in the world right now to keep us irritated without adding Blog Anxiety to the mix.  I can't barely go near Facebook right now...It's so toxic Id have to unfriend all 29 on my list to not see a political meme, including ME! It's so hard when you  want peace and balance to see our system being abused and misused in the way it currently is, it makes me crazy. I have a feeling this year is going to get much worse before it's all said and done.   

Notice second set of numbers.. 75F with humidity @ 95% and it was not raining when I snapped this shot...with all the tropical unrest going on, the unbearable gulf of Mexico air is being pumped up here by the truckloads as these fronts all 3 of them come in at once..ugh..you literally sweat just standing in one spot.

My left foot still has a redness and some bruising this happened when I was sick with the virus...and it has not completely gone away...it hurts at night more so than when I'm up walking on it..it's not in the joint of the toe its on the side of and the tip of the toe, and the bruise that keeps recurring is on the top of my instep it's so strange...it makes me think  the 'Return of the Jedi'? No please...


female Ruby Throated Hummingbird's are always a blur!

Alberta Peach 

Moving  forward I purchased some Fruit Trees I'm trying for the last time to plant an "orchard" here...I have done this before but honestly you saw how many deer call my little place home...I love them and would never do anything to deter them coming by but I do wish they would stop attacking the trees I plant!  So this time I'm planting the trees in the YARD close to the house...and not out on the acreage ...hopefully even tho they do come in the yard sometimes, Maybe between me and the girls we can keep them from destroying the trees,  they normally do their damage at night! The antler scraping is the trouble. So I will attempt to put guards on the trunks or some caging around the tree so they can't get to the trunk..

I got Peach, Apple, Pear, and Fig Trees...I have one Kieffer Pear that has survived Mom and I planted those only one survived the deer assault....but is not making any fruit because it needs a buddy to get pollination so this new Asian Pear will hopefully do that trick...don't think I got a shot of the Asian Pear...oh well...The Peach is the only one I got in the ground so far...Maybe one per day....Im trying to chart the sunlight they all need 6 hrs of direct sun...


Northern Cardinal

This tomato is one of the heirlooms I grew OMG it tastes like Sunlight so delicious I made myself a tomato sandwich for lunch...And have enough for another one for tomorrow's lunch! Simple things to look forward to..

Carolina Chickadee

Two Brown Headed Nuthatches enjoy some black oil sunflower seed they snagged off the feeder...

One was really hammering that seed open!

...one House Finch in my yard flock has the  conjunctivitis...I won't say whether I caught her or not I will  leave that for you figure out for  yourself, because I saw some people go bat shitz crazy when a lady helped a robin survive...and posted on a Facebook Bird Group page. 

But in the meanwhile I cleaned all my feeders and watering areas with a bleach solution...

In other News Jimmy was taken to Denver on Wednesday, his Surgery was Thursday, my last report was he was very out of it due to the anesthesia, but the vet said he did really well during the surgery, and tomorrow he goes back for a check before  the 3+ hr drive to home.  He has to stay quiet for 5 days and follow up with a local vet...so it's the first big step to a lengthy process to a better life.  I will put an update in the comments section on Friday after I get word on what the Surgical Vet had to say.  The will measure his ocular pressure etc. They shaved his face! And he has to wear this cone for quite some time so he won't try to scratch his face...Hopefully his next photo he will be his old happy self. 💓💓
And:

I'd like to point you to something new I added This week to my Right Side Bar, It's 💝Casey's Find a Grave Memorial Page, please stop by and maybe leave him a flower...I just found out thanks to my sis how to create this memorial page and if you want to do one for your pet and can't figure it out send me a message and I will help you if I can. And this shout out: The day after I created that Memorial my friend ((Jen)) (I Used to Hate Birds)  posted about the loss of her little buddy Jake💕, so sorry Jen, I know how much you loved him and all the fun you had together are memories  you will forever cherish..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Goldenrod Says Fall

Canada has not opened the border and I don't think it will open this  year.  If you have any knowledge of sustainable living I suggest you put a plan together.

still trying to learn how to make a good biscuit. I put too much soda in these but other than that okay..

I
edible? Maybe...

This blog is supposed to be about my life my art my journey and lately my journey has come to a halt my life  has changed, and my art is not  happening, and my attention is scattered in many directions. My view into nature is mainly on my little acreage here...what comes to me is what I'm sharing.  This is always a sign of fall to me, the Goldenrod is blooming...

and big swallowtails are trying out their newly opened wings..

eastern tiger swallowtail

The weather has been better for 2 days this morning I got up and it was 69 degrees F. With 83% humidity must not leave that out but compared to what I been getting up to 78F with 83% humidity much better...I actually took my longest walk in 4 weeks on Monday...And it was not easy.  BUT I did it and I feel a little better mentally.

I read herd immunity is getting close in India...in order to have herd immunity 2/3 the population has  been exposed to and lived thru the virus...some researchers say it could be lowered to 50% or 1/2. The population of the planet is 7.8 Billion sooooo 

We have a long way to go. Globally currently we have had 21,915,143 cases, with only  14.5 million recovered.  In the US population is 332 Million give or take a few...in the USA nearly 3 million recovered...this is a good site for the numbers..

Birds in the yard are going through a molt and some look really weird. They are very busy at the feeders and the birdbath and in the grass gobbling up insects...with very few exceptions none of the birds Im seeing in my yard will leave.  They will  soon be joined by some visitors and there will be more competition.

Once again there's deer in the field I put some corn out for them and 7 showed up to eat it including the fawn, this group had a couple doe's a couple young bucks in velvet and the fawn he is so adorable..

These photos are taken thru the glass door and the storm door so a bit distorted but if I open the door they run away in a flash...

Here is a video that brings them to life...

press play in the middle of the video

I took one short walk in my attempt to gain back some stamina at Goodale, saw the Great Blue Heron sitting in the flat top tree...it's good to see him 

One of my toes still has a red spot on it, I hope once that is fully gone I will begin to feel much better...I have been doing a little seed planting in garden pots thinking some fresh lettuce and carrot will taste nice and I plan to look for other fall loving food plants to get in the dirt...

Next week on Thursday Jimmy will be having his eye surgery to correct blindness due to cataracts...so many thanks to those of you who helped by donating to his go fund me page, it is so appreciated...and a huge help.  Due to the fires in the area they will have to make a LONG 3 hr detour to get to Denver...I hope all of you will be keeping Jimmy in your hearts and thoughts. And I will let you know how he is doing in my next post. 

Jimmy enjoys the spray from one of the waterfall hikes we did...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

One Week Later...

All sorts of media was used to create this post...cause I'm scraping the barrel. 

...it's been a while since being out with my camera, I have little new on the nature front to share...but what I have I will kick in. 

My last trip to the race track I saw this Little Blue Heron on an old Windmill frame..there was about 8 white form little blue's around that day. 

You can hear a few Fish Crow in the background

Im feeling  better since my last post and worlds better than I did 3 weeks ago in the throws of the virus, I  hope that's the end of it, but please realize the virus is here among us, it's taking turns with each body it can find..be prepared is all's I'm saying.  I had my first outing on Monday day 16 after contracting the virus from hell...It was exhausting but I did it, made 2 stops for items I needed and put gas in the van...I left home at 8 back by 9:30 and it did me in for a couple of hrs but so far so good.

Yesterday I actually did a little work in my yard got out early while it was still cool and cut the grass, riding on the mower is easy all I have to do is turn the wheel...my grass was at least 8 inches tall!! Now it's back to normal and the dogs can walk around without getting morning dew on their bellies.

I refuse to use the new "blogger interface" voluntarily --just saying! Drag me to the alter kickin and screamin...

Had 2 Eastern Wood Peewees on the fence one feeding the other so welcome to the World.  It is quite nice to see all the new faces at the feeder, had 9 Northern Cardinals in 50 shades of red,  flying all over the place and the Wrens are busy as bees with their broods following them everywhere.  

carolina wren chaos

And I made this thru the window and screen video of a Northern Cardinal using the water fountain..

I had always planned to get a video of Casey drinking out of this stream, he was the only one of the dogs who would drink from the stream of water...so clever.  But I never got around to it...:0(

This Eastern Kingbird flew off just I was trying to snap a photo of him, they are so aerobatic..and such awesome flycatchers.

This was on my last trip up to Sandhills before I got sick, think I was there on July 24th, I wanted to see if any progress had been made on the pond they drained...still the same that day ,grass has grown where the lake bottom was and one Canada Goose seemed bewildered...

IT was scorching hot on that day so I didn't do any hiking just a quick look around...

Even the Egret was worried about the mud....

And if you like Sunflowers, you may enjoy this...

It's going to be a while before I'm up to any new exploring as I don't want to get out in the heat and trigger a relapse  I will be happy when I can go into the yard and water my plants or fill my feeders without it leaving me exhausted...so for now it will be what's in the yard or through the window that thrills me!!

It's amazing how small your world can become...to anyone out there who may be going thru it, I wish you a speedy recovery...

Cattle Egret from my last drive around...are about to start moving on they have been gathering in large flocks of about 50 or more in a nearby cow pasture...tempers are flaring...I think they're saying Im so ready to get outta here and go back home....where ever home is for them, maybe FL maybe Mexico..

today this beautiful little fellow showed up in my field...

So sweet...

Seems young to be alone...but I didn't see any adult they lose the spots at 3-4 months....

 the tall Goldenrod is so tall I had to tie it back with some string.  Most of my garden plants are about done even tho it remains hot fall is coming...I have some fall crops in mind for my garden pots and I already ordered my seed...some NON GMO. 

 Horn worms devastated my tomato plants while I was sick...my heirloom tomato has 2 large green tomatoes tho and my cherry tomato was eaten up pretty bad.  I sprinkled it with sulfur  powder and the worms are gone but so has the sun been gone lately...these rainy cloudy days don't help grow veg.  I had a good year with my 3 bush green bean plants in one pot...

I got a handful of beans daily perfect for me to add atop a salad...The asparagus has done well but I  think this coming year it will be even better as now I have twice the plants I had.  I harvested one butternut squash and some cucumber this week. 

I'm going with carrot, 3 kinds of lettuce, snow peas, cabbage, onions and broccoli and Im starting my Cilantro and Parsley inside and it will be ready to eat by spring.  I hope to over winter my banana and jalapeno peppers. I have a small watermelon on the vine hope it makes it...got it in sort of late and been so hot it may not survive...I have wrapped netting around it to keep squirrels away...The horn worms also got my Green bell pepper plant I hope it comes back out I over wintered it last year and I got some good pepper off it before they attacked. 

Its much bigger now this photo was taken about 3 and a half  weeks ago.  

Since Im low on news, I will share  my latest video also put together mid July, it's  happenings around the homestead, maybe you will enjoy watching, some of you have already seen it, thanks for your views!  My channel is mainly for my DIY projects but honestly I just don't tackle many projects in the summer it's just too hot...

I am excited about Biden's pick for VP Im so ready to see Trump rode out of DC on a RAIL...be prepared for all sorts of crazy antics from him to try and steal any votes he can...don't depend on the mail in GO VOTE IN PERSON!! IT's the only sure way your vote will be counted!! 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Who Knows?

I accidentally hit the publish on a post that is not completed and not ready to be published...so forgive all that. I was trying to type up a post Im very passionate about but I can't get it the way I want it to be. and Ive been too sick to try.  So maybe when Im well.  There's not much you can do when you're just hanging out...

waiting...to be you again. 

Since  27th of July I have been pretty much in bed or watching the world from my couch in between naps and bouts of fever.  I don't know but you tell me, there is  an out of control pandemic sweeping across the Country and I suddenly became ill with most of the symptoms..,so I just put 1 + 1 together.  So I have had no test to confirm it for a couple reasons...one: Im too sick to go wait in line to be tested...two: what difference does it make? Im still sick there is no cure.  No matter what it is I have to deal with it either way. 

AS long as I can treat and manage the symptoms Im having, that  is all one can do...according to health.net you should only go to your doctor if you consider yourself to be at risk or have a severe case.  I did not call a dr. I have not been off my place since I got sick that Monday at first I thought I had heat stress...and probably did..but then I did not recover. 

 In the beginning I was having  fevers come and go...a few hours a day I could sit up or stir around the house and do the little things I need to do, but then the fever and the headaches come back and I'd have to lay down and nights brings on more fever chills and night sweats so I was not resting well at all.

So my head got so hot...I put ice packs all over it, and it throbbed with each heartbeat, my pulse was high, my Blood pressure Low, I was completely dehydrated, I had muscle aches and joint pain, my vision was blurred, nausea, stomach issues, nose bleed, fever blisters on my lower lip, lost the rest of my sense of taste, mostly gone thanks to the dentist, the fever range was from 98.8 to 102. My normal temp is 97.7...a little below most people's norm. 

Then about 4 days ago these Splotches broke out on my entire body...pretty much all over not thick but everywhere.  They don't itch or have any eruptions...20% of Covid infected have skin blotches, and now I have what they refer to as Covid Toe, if you google it you will be surprised.  It's swelling of the feet and toes caused by the inflammation of blood vessels and possible tiny clots.  Even the bottom of my feet are affected, makes walking very difficult, and the blotches are now on my face too.  And I read it can affect the hands too so far my hands are ok.  When I began to move around a little more after putting ice packs on my feet, the swelling went down and the pain right now is not too bad in my feet. I had no breathing issues at all except I would get exhausted very quick and that would increase my respiratory. 

If it's not Covid then there's an another virus in town!! Because I've never had anything like this in my life.  I just want to get better and go on with life as best I am able.  Our state has had about 92,000 cases since March, 17% of people tested are positive.   I have been following the guidelines, so go figure.  The mask may slow it but its not gonna stop it 100% I was being very diligent but seems I got it anyways Like I say without a test I don't know but at this time It's more important I stay in, take care of myself and just try to get better, and  I don't want to pass on whatever it is I have to anyone else...And I hear it takes a week to get the results of a test. 
I hope to be well in a week. 


This raccoon and his mom were in the yard before I got sick...

I do not even have a primary care doctor..I always concentrated on Mom's health not on mine because I don't trust internal medicine pretty much witch doctors, case in point this virus! Internal medicine is like  playing a  guessing games, "lets try this"...anyway I the list of symptoms I did have are a page long! But not all happened at one time, and honestly I feel like a patient on the tv show HOUSE where there is a new symptom every hour.  Now that clots possibly developing in my feet, ?? WHO KNOWS? I can say at the time Im typing this I feel better, I am not going to jump right back into my routine when I begin to feel better, as I  read one lady relapsed on day 12, that is today for me.  I feel better today except for minor residual symptoms, than I have in 12 days. 

I plan to stay quarantined for as long I have to,  I wont be doing anything till I'm well, and honestly I can't do anything.  My strength is completely depleted. I will have to rehab myself and be very aware of how I feel when say a fever is starting to rise...being on top of the symptoms helps a lot.

A couple days have been better than others I sat up most the day read blogs, even made some posts for Writtin's...then there's those days when the head is just pounding so much you can't concentrate...I've been craving water melon, I have a water melon growing in my garden it had 2 melons so far very small...I hope I can get out to snap a photo before this posts on Friday but that may not happen since the covid-foot thing means I can barely put weight on my feet!!  I have no clue if the melons will actually mature, critters, and the heat may get it BUT I hope not.  

At least I have the dogwood tree to watch thru the window all sorts of birds move in and out of it all day long, and the hummingbird feeder hangs there so I still have my connection to the outside world I love..It took all the strength I could muster but I have dragged myself out to refill the feeders and then collapsed on the couch the rest of the day.



Im sure I will have some kind of post next week..hopefully announcing a full recovery.  I have not had a high fever for 2 full days now so I hope that means Im on the upside of getting better.

All this is my body's immune system's reaction to the viral invasion.  MY biggest fear is now it's IN ME does this mean it will flare up at will??? Re-activate? SO Far there is no data  of the post covid person and how it will affect your life moving forward.  Most virus's once you get one its for life.  How bad is the "outbreak" each time?  I don't think I could go thru this or want to go thru this again.  I read you must avoid people for at least 14 days AFTER your symptoms disappear. 

So now it's a wait and see how it will take me to get the rest of these symptoms under control and to able to start moving around more and developing strength again.  One thing was not mentioned on is how it affects your nervous system.  What I mean is like when I pick up an object and using fine motor skills there is a slight tremor, and a reluctance of that muscle to work...you get jitters like too much caffeine. 

So for anyone who says this is a hoax, I hope karma doesn't decide to show  you how wrong you are.  Im not out of the woods yet I have no idea whats next as far as how this virus will continue to wreck havoc on my system.  I am no spring chicken, Ive been very stressed and down and out since the death of my Mom followed closely by Casey's death and  those emotional stresses have left me in weaker state to handle something like this.
I do think I will recover but I also think I have a  ways to go...it's day by day.

EDIT: This article to me provides the best information on testing, contagion, and seems the most accurate based on what I now know I would recommend reading it and it gives a better understanding of how a healthy adult should can transmit or contract the virus and other important facts about it.

Meanwhile the weather continues to be the worst summer in history! Humidity has not been below 60% in weeks, heat indexes are over 100 every single day and we had a tropical storm on top of all that it rained buckets...
Hope things are going better in your world. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.