And the cold goes on..and on, and on, and on..

...but as you can see, there was at least some sunshine, which the critters took immediate advantage of. This is big goofy Bella and old man Po.  Soaking up the rays.

  It never made it to 12 degrees today and seeing as how it started out t something insane like -5, I guess we can't complain. It was tolerable, for very short bits of time. The dogs never stayed out longer than 15 minutes at a time.  I didn't go out AT ALL. For any reason. The boy took care of the chickens and got the mail. That was about it for that. I stayed in and baked banana bread, using up the black organic bananas on the counter. They were  still fine inside-well, ripe, of course, but not bad.  Made 2 lovely loaves of banana/cranberry/almond bread. It was light and tasty and between the 3 of us, we've nearly finished off one loaf already.  I had some ground beef in the fridge that needed using, so I made a small meatloaf (just enough for one meal and the Irishman's lunch).  I also baked a pan of campfire potatoes--a layered dish of potatoes, onions, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. In summer I put them in foil and cook them on the bbq grill. On a picnic, they cook great on a campfire. Then I scoured the veggie drawer for things that needed using and cooked up a cast iron skillet full of  broccoli, mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery and spinach. It takes me awhile to slice things up, but I'm getting faster.  It was a good meal.

 SO--Wednesday I went to the doc and he checked me out, looked at the xrays and put a cast on my arm. I asked him if I could please have my fingers back, and he said sure.

Here I am. Fingers and all. When they cut the splint off, my fingers were so stiff and swollen I couldn't move them much. That got better quickly. My forearm (underside) was seriously bruised, about 2/3 of the way to my elbow. My hand was all yellow and greenish, black and blue as well.  He said that I had a serious sprain to my hand, and he wouldn't be surprised if there was some tendon damage. He said I was lucky that I had such good bones. He said if I had to break it, I did a really good job--it was a good clean break with no displacement. I will go back in 3 weeks when they will cut this cast off and redo the x-rays. If it is looking good enough to suit him, he will let me wear a wrist brace instead of another cast. He said that I should have about 85% of my normal wrist usage back by the end of this, but it wouldn't be a hundred percent for about a year. 

  I'm already hating this cast. LOL  It itches, my arm hurts, and it's unwieldy.  But I can use my fingers to help stabilize whatever I'm having to do with my left hand, and that helps a lot.  I took a nice hot bath this afternoon and nearly killed myself trying to get up in the tub. I'll not do that again...especially not when I'm here by myself. Both my knees are terribly bruised and so I couldn't easily get on my knees to get up out of the tub. Because I can't hold onto anything with one hand, it got a  dicey there for a bit. I talked myself through it and feel better clean. lol  Next time I'll just use the shower.  My back is hurting and I thought a nice soak in some Epsom salts would be good. Except I seem to be out of that.  I'm going to make a follow-up appointment with the doc from the car accident and see about getting some chiropractic treatment and some massage maybe. The insurance people said they would pay--all I have to do is have the Dr prescribe them, a certain number of each and that's what they'll pay for.  Hallelujah. It's been a rough day..in spots.

  Well, I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep. I think that tomorrow I will go out and get behind the wheel. The Irishman says the road is very passable now. I'll give it a shot. Maybe just a trial run--down to Dollar General or something.  Saturday is the Irishman's birthday, and I think we are going to check out the new Texas Roadhouse for lunch and then hit a matinee. I do need to pick him up a birthday card and plan to make him some pumpkin bread too. He doesn't really like cake, always prefers a sweet bread or a pie.

  Sweet dreams, friends...



Namaste.