One Handed

Ok, so I had the surgery last Thursday and now I am learning how to live one-handed. I think everyone should try it. It makes you appreciate having two hands and being able to use them. And even more it makes me envious of those that are ambidextrous - or those that can use each hand equally well.
I think all of us should try to learn to use our left hand more in case we have to some where on down the road of life. The fact that most of us are right handed or left handed is not good. We should use both hands equally. To bad we are not born that way.
If you have never done so you should try using your left (right hand if you are left handed) or 'off' hand for a day or so just to see how awkward it is. Try brushing your teeth with your off hand. Or brushing your hair. Try eating or writing. Or try pulling up you pants with only one hand. Or tying your shoes. Or putting the key in the car ignition with your left hand, or shifting the car left handed (this one doesn't matter if you're right or left handed as all cars are built to shift with the right hand.)
Try it and learn to do a few things with your 'off' hand. You never know when you might need to do it.

Ganglion Surgery

My surgery to remove the ganglion cysts I had, 1 in wrist, and 1 in thumb, went well, and I am recovering fine. Really learning to type 1-handed, with just a little help from fingers of my right hand. Hardest part is convincing my left thumb that it can work the space bar for me. It refuses to obey.
May not post much over next few weeks will I have big bandage around most of right hand. Kind of cramps my ability to do much. So will watch lots of TV and read some online stories at wwwwomenwritersblock.net and a few books I have had stashed for 'sick days'.

Clothing

I am probably one of the people in the world who cares the least about fashion. But I got to thinking about having the surgery on my wrist this week and what I have that will be comfortable to wear afterward while I am recovering. I realized that the only thing I wear anymore are pullover tee shirts with a long sleeved flannel shirt over the tee when it is cool, and sweat pants or jeans. I do have several pairs of slacks and some long sleeve shirts that look better than flannel shirts for wearing out. I hate wearing a dress and I don't even remember the last time I had a dress on.
So since I don't know just how much bandaging I will have on my wrist and thumb for the new few weeks and deciding that pull over tee shirts wouldn't be the most practical clothing I took off to splurge on a couple of new shirts that would be short sleeved, soft material and open down the front with either buttons or zippers. I got Hubby's guarantee that he would fasten the buttons for me instead of making me do it one handed.
I spent all day going to about 6 different clothing stores and getting more and more frustrated the more I shopped. It seems that women's shirts are about 90 percent pullovers which normally I wouldn't have ever paid much attention to as I prefer that kind. Everything that I found that was open down the front had tight long sleeves. The few that I found that would have been acceptable in a short sleeve where made out of material that was so rough that I would never have considered wearing it at any time. What they were made out of I couldn't figure out, except they all stated cotton. I never knew cotton to be that rough. Most of the ones made out of a soft material were so slinky I wouldn't be able to keep it on while lounging in bed or a chair or couch and would have made me sweat like heck. I prefer soft, cotton material next to my skin. Maybe that makes me a wimp but I figure that I should be able to have SOFT clothes if I want to. I don't think anyone but Hubby is going to care what I wear as long as I am covered. Especially as I am now considered a 'senior citizen'. (And maybe no one else on the internet is even going to read this post.)
(That includes bras. I threw out all my regular bras about 20 years ago when I found a cyst on my spine right where the metal fasteners on my bras always touched my back. It was a different kind of cyst than the ganglion cyst I am having removed from my wrist. The cyst on my back was removed and when I had to wear a bra for work or nicer trips to where ever I wear the cotton sports bras that don't have any fasteners. It wouldn't be approved by those that care about so called fashion styles but I don't want another cyst on my back right on my spine. Maybe that is more information than you who are reading this want to know, but women should be aware that this can happen from wearing those horrid, ridiculous contraptions called bras. If men had to wear them they would have been banned a long time ago.)
Finally I gave up and went to Walmart (I had already been to Sears, Penney's, KMart, Target, and Burlington Coat Factory (for those that don't know Burlington, they carry all kinds of clothing.) and hunted for some shirts some more. Finally I found a pair of summer pajamas with a short sleeved top that opened down the front. (I have two old pair of flannel PJ's that are long sleeved and open down the front that I may cut the sleeves off of if I need to. But I wanted something new.) I also found a nice black shirt that is soft, short sleeved and open down the front that I can make do with and will be a half way decent dressy type shirt for later on.
Now I just hope that with in a week or so the bandages will be small enough I can pull on some of my larger tee shirts with hubby's help.

Ganglion Cyst

It looks like I may not be posting much over the next month or so. I have had a ganglion cyst on my wrist for about 15 years. The past six months or so it has become much larger and much more painful. This link tells about these common type of cyst if you are interested. http://http//orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00006 or at http://http//www.assh.org/Public/HandConditions/Pages/GanglionCysts.aspx

I took some photos of my wrist and thumb but you can't see that much. I have the one that is below my thumb which is about an inch or so across, and I have one in the joint of my thumb. They are caused by repetitious use which in my case has probably been from using a keyboard to much and to long. I started using the old Royal typewriters about 45 years ago. Those old ones took lots of finger power to make the keys go down enough to print since they weren't electric. I was thrilled when I got my first electric typewriter. Then it was on to cash registers as I was a cashier at most of the jobs I have had. At the other jobs I had I used computer keyboards all day. Computer keyboards are a lot better than those old typewriters but still it is a constant repetition of the joint.

Mechanics get these same type of cysts from turning wrenches and screwdrivers even though the cysts are more common in women than men. Some sports cause them like gymnastics and golf, and rodeo roping.

The surgery is a day surgery, in and out the same day, and is set for about the middle of this month. So my first question to the doctor was how long before I would be able to type with my right hand again.

She said it would be about a month. I right handed so it will be very awkward to do lots of things for that month although I have already been trying to do some things with my left hand instead of my right. But typing with just the left leads to some weird spelling.

I will look at emails and will try to answer them if I can, but don't expect much.

Sounds of Wildlife

We get lots of sounds of wildlife where we live in the high desert of New Mexico. Most common are the sounds of birds. We have the common English sparrow, the red headed house finch, some sort of black bird, several types of doves, ravens, quail, and owls. The owls make some of the most unusual noises we here, and recently we think we are hearing the calls of a pair of great horned owls doing their mating calls. We usually have one of the large birds in our yard doing it's hooo-hooo-hooo while another bird is answering it from a few yards away. The past few nights the hooo-hoooing has been so loud I have been able to hear it from my bedroom. I like the big owls as they do eat lots of mice and rats, but I have heard that they will catch and eat cats and small dogs, too. As I have cats I am very careful to make sure that they are in the house by dark. In fact we only let the two boy cats out. The girl kitten are not allowed out. I wish I could convince the boys to stay in but after several hours of running back and forth between doors and meowing I usually give up and let them out.
I also worry about the coyotes chasing after the cats as they will take cats and small dogs, too. I understand that the coyotes and other wildlife were here before I was and do my darnest to live with them. I see the coyotes sometimes but I am hear them even more. In fact just about any night if you listen long enough you will usually hear some coyote yipping as it calls to the rest of its family. Sometimes it's just one or two howls but other times it goes on and one as they 'sing' to each other. I kind of enjoy hearing them like I do the owls and other birds.
Another of the animal sounds I really enjoy hearing I only hear when we are in the mountains. We hadn't hear an elk bugle for several years until this year when we were cutting firewood last November. We had just finished for the day and were getting into the truck to leave when we heard a weird noise. It was a bull elk bugling near by. An elk bugling is a strange noise and bugle is the only word for the noise they make. This bugle can cause chills to run up and down your spine especially if you have never heard it before. But I love this noise that is usually heard only in the fall when the males are fighting for the females. I wish we had been able to see the elk that was bugling but we didn't. Maybe next time.

Happy Birthday New Mexico

My state of New Mexico is now 100 years old. And it still bugs me that there are so many people in the United States that can not get it through their thick heads that there is a state called New Mexico, and that we are not part of the country of Mexico which is to the south of us. New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6, 1912, with President William Taft signing the paperwork to make New Mexico a state. Before that New Mexico was a territory from 1848 when the state was taken from Mexico by U.S. troops during the Mexican War.

Happy Birthday New Mexico, United States of America

Gun Safety

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!
Hope every one celebrated the new year safely. I find it hard to believe that there are so many people willing to shoot off their guns on New Years and take a chance on accidentally shooting someone or a pet, or at the least breaking windows in someones home or car. I think there were more gunshots last night than there have been in other years. They just kept on and kept on and I am saying prayers that my horses or someone else or their horses or dogs aren't hit by one of those bullets. Sure you are shooting up into the air. But there is an old saying that 'what goes up must come down' and those bullets do come down. Thankfully none of my horses were hit nor have I heard of anyone or anything around here being hit. but there were some windows broke in town. And other years I have heard of people being hit.
No, I am not a person that it for gun control and wants to take your guns away. I grew up in a home where everyone knew how to safely use a gun. My dad made sure we could shoot but do it with safety the first priority. I say keep your guns but know the safe way to use them. They are not toys, they are a tool to be used properly and safely just like you would use a saw, knife, skillet, or computer.

Ice and Mud

So we have had more snow in December than we have had in one month in - well I can't remember when. Usually snow is gone the same day it falls. Or no more than a day or so. But this time it has been more than a week and we still have snow in our yard. Or should I say ice. It has been so much colder than normal as well as more snow that the snow has not had a chance to melt. Part of the yard still has the frozen snow which gets slicker every day. And part is now a huge mud puddle.
Most of Star pony's pen is now drying fairly well, and the little ponies pen isn't far behind. But poor Nita, my Quarter Horse still have big mud puddles. Especially around her shelter. She has the largest pen and still has the most ice and mud left. One puddle must be at least 3 inches deep in the center.
I know I shouldn't complain. We need the moisture and other parts of the US fight with mud in horse pens most of the winter while we usually don't. But I really dislike having to put the truck in 4-wheel-drive before I can get out of my driveway. We have to do this every once in a while on our dirt road but not in the drive. For some reason all the melted snow seems to have tried to puddle in the drive which is usually hard packed cliche clay. For those that don't live in the desert when cliche clay gets wet is is slick as snot or so the saying goes, which explains why so many people that live out here have pickups with 4-wheel-drive. It is a necessaties. We have had at least one 4-wheel-drive pickup for the past 39 years. And No we do not get out and do that mud bogging thing that is show on TV. We have to fight with cliche mud enough that it is not fun. It is just a matter of getting to the job, store or the doctor and home again.
And poor Tuffee our Border Collie. She has run on the ice until her feet are sore so that she is limping first on one foot then on the other. I have been trying to keep her in but she is determained she is an outside dog (at least in the day) regardless of her feet.

Snowflakes

This morning there were snowflakes frozen on one of our windows. So very pretty to be able to see every part of them like this.

The Gift

Twinki was more than willing to unwrap the gift but it was Cassi that preferred to play with the toy mouse.

Cats Christmas

The dogs have been taught not to tear up anything so they didn't want to open their gifts but the cats didn't hesitate when offered the chance of opening gifts and playing in gift wrap paper.

Kitten Disaster

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas but must admit I am glad it is over. It has been such a hassle this year what with the snow, rain, ice, mud and all the nasty weather. I got so upset everytime I tried to do some shopping because of all the other shoppers that were so rude everywhere I went. We did put up a tree although I was against the idea as I was afraid the now 7 month old kittens, Cassie and Twinki would spend all there time climbing it and knocking off the decorations. We put it on the new sunroom even though the sunroom isn't finished and it looked really nice in front of our floor to ceiling window. And a mircle, the kittens never climbed the tree although they did their darnest to pull off all the decorations in reach of the floor. But------- the canceled the idea of having any nicely wrapped packages under the tree. Twinki decided that all packages and gifts had to be unwrapped faster than the time it took me to wrap them. She would use her teeth by simply sliding her fangs across the package to tear the paper then start pulling at the small paper strips she had made. then she would start using her claw. I hadn't put any ribbons on anything as I expected them to pull ribbons off but not to unwrap the gift like that. She went from gifts to other things. Sometime ago we found that she though tinfoil was for tearing into tiny little silver flakes to scatter in the kitchen using her teath. But now she was going after plastic bags full of cookies. chip bags, cat food bags, dog food bags, a bag of sugar, and one of flour, and even a bag of cat litter. If it could be torn open using her teath or claws she was going to do it. Of course Cassi would sit watching until the bag would open and then help her scatter the contents. Thankfully most of the time I could hear the commotion and be able to remove the bag of what ever before there was to much of a mess. Presents were all put in the closet until Christmas morning, and all bags of food go in the refer or a cabinet now while the cat litter is in the garage.
I do have to admit I took lots of photos of them helping unwrap the gifts on Christmas morning and playing in the pile of left over paper and boxes.

Frozen Fog

3 mornings this week we woke to find a strange world of frozen fog. We couldn't see any farther than our own yard. It was as if the world didn't exist anymore beyond our place. It gave a odd, fantasy-like feel to everything. I took some photos but they don't have the true feel that I was getting as I wondered about. Within a few hours the fog was mostly gone but it was still dark, dreary days. It made me want to hybernate instead of getting out to finish my Christmas shopping.

Snow Dogs

Took these photos the other day when the dogs were playing in the snow. They were having fun but I was getting cold.

Women Writers Block

The site www.womenwritersblock.net is back up and there are several new stories that were posted today. New stories are posted on Mondays. Give them a try and let the authors know what you think of them. I know I'm going to as we are having another snow storm today so I will just stay in except for going out to feed the horses.

Christmas Story

For those that may have tried to get to my new Christmas story in the past few days, the server for that site, http://www.womenwritersblock.net/, has been down. I have been told it should be up and running again by Monday or soon there after. If you would like me to email a copy of the story please let me know.

Wondering Horse

The other night about 8pm I heard the neighbors dogs barking and my mare, Star, whinnying so I went out to see what was going on. At first I didn't see anything then something nudged me in the back. I knew instantly it was a horse, I've been nudged like that so many times, but what was one doing in front of the garage? It was my Quarter Horse mare, Nita. Apparently hubby or I didn't get her gate shut good when we gave them their afternoon snack and filled water buckets. I'm not sure how long she was out but by the time I got to her she was ready to go back to her pen for the night feeding we do at about 9pm.

Since we still have mud from all the rain we have been having it was easy to follow her tracks the next day and see where she had been. First she went to the cottonwood tree right outside her pen that has a nice bunch of grass growing at the base of the truck and ate the grass. Next she sampled some of my roses near the tree and tip-toed through a pile of used lumber and sheets of tin that we had pulled of the hayshed roof last year to replace with better material so the roof didn't leak. We have slowly been using the lumber and tin for some other minor projects but it was a messy pile of junk that no horse should have been in. Next she visited the two ponies in their pen and went on by the kitchen window and into the back yard. To get there she had to go under the brase that helps hold up the gate that is usually left open. The brase is just over 6 feet tall, enough for hubby to walk under. Nita is 15 and a half hands tall so if she had her head up she would have smacked into the brase. (you can see it in the photo taken last week when it snowed) She made a trip around the back yard and walked right by the hole that the dogs had dug that morning (I think they were after one of the rats that tunnel under the garden). She then when back out the same gate and by the kitchen again to where she was by the garage when she and I found each other.

I couldn't find even a tiny scratch on her. I think she might be the kind of horse the cowboys called a 'night horse' because they can get around in the dark so well. I was just glad she didn't get hurt.

New Christmas Story

I have a new story posted on www.womenwritersblock.net It is called Bordertown Christmas, and is about the old western - well 1988 - show called Bordertown. In the story it is Christmas Eve and Marshal Jack Craddock is lost in a snow storm. All of his friends are worried and him and trying to find him. Will they find him before it is to late?
On the Women Writers Block site my authors name is Stardust. Take a look and read a few stories.

Christmas Cartoons

Christmas Mood

To get you in the mood for Christmas visit
http://the-creative-exchange.com/ They have beautiful photographs.