Tracker's Busy

No pictures... it's not exactly pretty, but there's the rear quarter of a squirrel, tail intact, next to Fischer on his bed.

Venus and our moon

Venus barely visible to left of moon in last phase. Between 7:10 and 7:15 a.m. January 29.

When I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands,

The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained,

What is man that thou art mindful of him?

Psalm 8

Kiddy Lit

That's Literature for Kids not Kitty Litter.

Recently read that one of the inspirations for The Hobbit was The Marvellous Land of SNERGS. Found my copy at amazon. This is a fun book of 120 pages about two children who have an adventure with Snergs, a race of people no taller than the average table.

It's available for loan... could be read to Vannoy kids or by the older Wilsons.

Tolkien, the great philologist and academic, said that when he read fantasy his urge was not to critique but to write fantasy of his own. Guess we'd agree he did that.

love you guys

Tracker's Back; that's Tracker the Great

Yesterday, I go outside. I see Tracker hanging around Fischer who is leaning over a cotton-tail and picking through some red meat. (No pictures.) That was early in the day. By the time Dad gets home, all that's left is a rabbit's leg on Fischer's bed.

Tracker has switched from "catch and release" to "share the hunt", and Fischer seems to have perked up since his period of freedom when the invisible fence battery died.

Jury's still out on whether Fischer's a very smart dog or a very dumb one. He knows that the (remote) collar that shocks and sometimes vibrates a warning is associated with something I sometimes wear around my neck. The other day I forgot to put on his collar so I just went outside waving the necklace. That was enough to make him forgo street life.

Knee update: Sunday the Kelleys, Dad, and I walked at Reflection Riding. It was my first serious walk since October. The knee was sore at the end, but fine the next day. Catherine has proclaimed me healed!

love you guys,

mom

BIG Snow

A few pictures on January 10: We woke up to about 6" of snow, and it just kept coming. Estimate 8 to 9" total. It has been very overcast and below freezing, so there has been almost zero melt as of tonight, Tuesday, January 11.

There we no getting out, so Dad turned the dining room into his home office.
Lula Lake Road was only barely passable.


Trees were beautiful.
Tomorrow's errands and travel plans for Thursday are still on.

We'll see!

Just got a call from Sarah.

Guess one should not be surprised that this little girl is good on the phone.

At two, Sarah was spied in Mother's Day Out. She was pushing a toy vacuum with a baby doll on her hip and a toy phone at her ear.

So now on the phone she knows to speak up for her hearing-challenged old grandmother and to carry her half of the conversation.

(Fortunately she wasn't vacuuming when she called, I'm sure she knew exactly where her baby doll was... probably taking her morning nap. shhh...)

Sarah is making envelopes and stamping them with stickers her mom gives her.

She has been to vote with her mom but cannot vote herself... yet.

Thank-you Lord for my grandchildren.

A Knee, an MRI, and a little cut

The saga of my knee and what I have learned since my MRI two days ago.

Today Dr (David) Bruce gave me a cortisone shot which was scary for me and turned out to be totally no big deal.

He says it should keep the swelling (and therefore the pain) down for 4 months... but we have scheduled arthroscopic surgery two months hence.

The same thing is wrong with this knee that troubled the other one in 2002... torn meniscus.

There is the start of some arthritis and other degeneration, so treating it sooner rather than later makes sense.

And I am eager to stop taking so much advil.

The MTW Area Retreat, this time in Mexico, where once again I run the nursery, is October 6-12. The week of Oct 11 Dad will be hosting out-of-town visitors, and the week of Oct 31 he will be in Germany. So, by scheduling the surgery on October 19 I can cash in on some TLC.

And if all goes well, by Thanksgiving, when we hope to visit Debby and Jon, I should be doing very well.

The 2002 surgery was a breeze. Even post-op pain was much less than what I experienced pre surgery.

I know I cannot take for granted the same result, but I am very optimistic.

Thanks for caring, and I love you guys