My husband entertains his 7th grade science classes with my x-rays, etc. He is going to show them the latest via this blog today so I figured that I’d give them another photo to see.

Tempting Amaryllis

That's close enough.

 Dan cleaned the barn this weekend because I stll can’t use a pitchfork–or trek the wheelbarrow through the foot of mud we get when it rains.  We also set up lambing pens.The pens will be full by next weekend.

This is a warning: Photos that follow are graphic.

It’s 15 days after the injury (seems like forever) and 5 days after surgery. The splint came off to reveal what was underneath. Now I have a cast. It’s below the elbow!. After only 2 weeks its sure hard to straighten my arm.  And I need to work to get some life back into my curled up fingers. (I’m sorry for those of you who have suffered much more debilitating or serious injuries than this–I must seem like a real whiner–and I’m so thankful that this wasn’t any worse.) So here are the photos. I go back next week to have the stitches removed.

This is what it looks like under the cast.

Here's what it looks like under the skin!

I think I counted 6 screws at the top.

For a change of pace, look at what is blooming. I have a friend who says she doesn’t like daffodils because they are too perky” I think they’re great!

It’s 11 days later and now I’m going to have surgery. I can’t sleep and figure that all I’m going to want to do the rest of the day is sleep so what better thing to do than amuse myself at the computer? I don’t know who wants to see these photos besides me but … oh well… you can always go to the next blog.

My good friend Diane took me to the doctor appointments today because I probably shouldn't be driving long distances with this splint and because she said I needed an advocate. I made her hold the camera at arm's length to take this photo.

This is the new cast yesterday before the doctor decided to do surgery.

 

This x-ray shows that the wriast bones are settling into where the radius is supposed to be healing–at least I think that is what it shows.

This is the surgeon's plan--where he is going to put the hardware. Pretend you are watching football and they are scribbling on the screen. It's just that the doctor doesn't have colored markers.

It was my youngest son’s 18th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We all went for a mountain bike ride near where my older son lives. I ride my mountain bike all the time around here. We live in the flat land. Now I know where the ‘mountain’ comes from in mountain bike. The photos don’t show the parts of the trail with giant roots and rocks sticking out or the 4″ wide track with a steep drop-off on one side. Or the parts of the trail where you are in the lowest gear and pedaling what seems like 1000 rpm only to travel at a snail’s pace and eventallu have to stop or fall over. The photos show the snow and ice. Now most of the trail wasn’t snowy, but it was a unique element to add to the experience. We talked to people who said that normally they would have been skiing here this time of year. Kind of a scary situation from the standpoint of California’s water needs.

I’m typing one-handed because I broke my arm on Wednesday. I was trying to loosen a bale of hay using a hay hook and I guess the hook wasn’t in the right place or it slipped. In any case I went backwards and took the brunt of the fall on the concrete with my arm. I actually remember thinking “save the back” (having had 2 back surgeries) and I twisted so as not to land right on my tailbone which hurts all the time anyway. I spent half of Wed night at the hospital while they manipulated the bones back in place and splinted the arm–up to my armpit.

These photos of the x-rays show the break. The wrist end of the radius is broken vertically and horizontally. The vertical fractures break the end of the radius into several pieces–one doctor said it looks like popcorn. I went back on Friday for more x-rays. The bones were still in place but they won’t cast the arm until next week if the bones are still in place. Right now I’m just supposed to keep the arm up. About the only useful thing I can do is work at the computer (one-handed). So maybe Ill get caught up on bookkeeping, registrations and my new website (in progress).

My son and I left Christmas night to go visit my daugher in TX. We spent 4 days touring the Texas hill country–some beautiful country. Next we flew to AZ to visit my friend, Irene, who owns Cotton Clouds, mail-order yarn business. I first met Irene when I lived in AZ, but I haven’t been back for 26 years and I had never seen Cotton Clouds. I took over 600 photos, but I’ll show only a few here!

This is the Pernales River where it flows over and through these huge slabs of rock.

Katie’s friend is a fence builder, and as we drove around the country he pointed out all the fences that he’s built, including some with fancy gates.

In Arizona we stopped at the AZ Sonoran Desert Museum near Tucson. This is a Harris Hawk that put on a spectacular show along with 3 other hawks. They flew over the crowd, swooping low and landing on tall saquaro cactus. It amazes me that they can spot prey a mile away!

This is Mt. Graham that rises to 10,000 feet near Safford, AZ. I used to live in Safford and saw this mountain from my backyard. This is the view from Irene’s living room and bedroom. I took the photo in the morning as the sun was just hitting the mountain. Fantastic view!

We drove part way up the mountain and asked someone to take our picture. That’s Irene in red, her husband, Ron, me, and Chris (wearing shorts).

This is Irene in Cotton Clouds www.cottonclouds.com Yes, all those shelves are filled with yarn.

And here is a happy customer–Me!
I almost left my big suitcase in TX since it had been emptied of the Christmas presents we took Katie. I’m glad I didn’t because I filled it with yarn to bring home!