Enjoy nature while you can

And I really do enjoy all the birds we have here.  I’m so happy the squirrel still comes daily to stock up on winter provisions and he/she hasn’t fallen prey to predators in the desert.  The same goes for the desert toad.  I only see them in the hot summer months and only late at night.  I was so happy to see this frog again on my patio last night.  As I mentioned before, most of the lizards have become lunch, or dinner, for the roadrunners.  I have to face the fact that this is life in nature.  The bigger critters feed on the smaller ones.

Desert toad

When the birds gather around the water bowl, I can almost imagine they’re there visiting friends and sharing the latest gossip.  LOL.  I guess I have an overactive imagination, but I believe that animals carry on much as we human people do in our daily lives, just without all the trappings of clothes and shoes and toiletries we use to make ourselves presentable.

Birds at the water cooler

On another note, I’m looking for a second part-time job because hours at my current part-time job have been cut until people start returning to the desert for the winter.  About half the people in the area leave for cooler climates when we have triple digits here.  I’m hoping to find something for evenings that isn’t too far of a drive to make it worth my while to go there and that I’m not too old to get hired.  Time will tell.  I’ll be looking into this all next week, so more on this later.  If I get lucky, I do intend to work both jobs for the foreseeable future.  I need to pay some bills off.  After that maybe I won’t be so stressed and I can relax more.  Right now I feel as if I have an ulcer half the time.  I think its only nerves.

My ankles have gotten so much better after the cortisone shots.  I can actually walk normal again and I’m so happy about this.  I go for a follow up this week.  More on this later too.

On another note, I have two ill friends right now that will be undergoing surgery this next week.  I would appreciate it if you could send some healing thoughts their way.

We’ve probably only seen the tip of the iceberg

Things at work are in a major decline.  Just when you think that things can’t get any worse they do.  I’m really not sure where all this is going yet, but all of us are hoping the new boss gets her act together soon.  I think right now she’s very overwhelmed.  Many of us wonder how she ended up in the position to start with.  Her lack of training shows every day.

Tip of the iceberg.  We've probably not seen near as much as what's coming.

There are way too many new rules and we hear the ones we now know about are the better of the lot that’s coming.  Oh my!  I really don’t want to say too much more about this at the present time because I do still work there.  Several people have already left, some after they were given ultimatums and told they couldn’t have two or more jobs, so they had to make choices.  We’ve lost a few very good people.  I suspect others are actively pursuing other employment in their days off, however we’re all being worked ragged at the present time.

One thing that really drives me crazy is the secretiveness of everything now.  We can find little, if anything, out ahead of time.  This is nuts.  Why is everything a big, dark secret?  All the information that falls into that category now used to be open to all of us.  Life in the work department is very tiring and I find my own enthusiasm for the job waning.  I used to look forward to going there, but not anymore.  I am trying to be open to the changes and to give everyone a chance because that’s really what one should do.  But I have to tell you that I’m worn out.  On my days off I can sleep ten hours and still not get caught up on my rest.  The break schedule is really screwed up too and has been for a while now.  I don’t know if, or when, it’ll ever be straightened out.  Standing for four-plus hours with no break is almost impossible at my age.  Everyone is finding that hard.  There are many days when people get forgotten altogether. 

Yet we employees go in there every day never knowing what is going to happen to any of us before the day is over.  There’s a strange vibe going on.  Stay tuned for more on this situation.

Well this is not a very good pic, but it's me on the morning before my eye surgery.  If you look closely, you can see my eyelids lie on my eyelashes

This is me after eye surgery.  Beware this is an ordeal, but worth it in the end.

This is me in my sunglasses after I went back to work, minus our uniform of course.

This is me with no makeup and a few bruises left about a week ago.  I'm slowly getting back to normal, but I have eyelids again now and no more runny eyes.

My eye surgery is coming along well.  I do still have about another six weeks to go to be completely healed.  My eyelids are numb, but I’m told that takes months to correct itself.  The important thing is that it was a success.  I have no more drippy eyes.  I got so tired of customers asking me why I was crying all day long.  I do have to say the new boss did work with me too on this situation and I was allowed the time off I needed and was also able to wear sunglasses to work for a month until most of the bruising was gone.  I can now cover what’s left with makeup.

On a lighter note, we’re enjoying the warming days and all the critters that are coming to visit.  They forage for food in our yard and of course we always put water out for them.  This is such a bright note after a hard day at work.  I love watching them.  They seem so carefree, but I’m sure they do each have to worry about staying alive in the harsh desert environment.

Birds of Prey

Roadrunners

Squirrels and rabbits

Quail

Pigeons

Splashing in the birdbath is fun

The squirrel enjoying a peanut

We’ve also had many beautiful sunrises and sunsets lately.  I love taking pictures of them, even though I have hundreds already.  Here are a few to enjoy.  

Sunrise in the desert is a great way to face the day

This is another sunrise

Be thankful for all your blessings because you never know what each new day will bring.

Quick update

Today is my first day back on my computer for almost two weeks.  As many of you know, I had eye surgery on the fifteenth.  My eyes were swollen shut except for a tiny slit.  My last thought in the world would be to get on the computer.  I couldn’t see to do anything.  This included reading and watching TV, so I listened to music while I iced my face.

My husband said I looked like I had gone a dozen rounds with Mohammad Ali.  I felt like that too.  The whole idea was to get rid of this constant eye drip and the only way was surgery.  I have to use eye drops and ointment for another ten days.  The ointment is like looking through a foggy cloud.  Imagine putting Vaseline in your eye.  You get the picture.

I’ve iced my face for at least fifty hours now.  Everything is getting better slowly.  Tomorrow is my first day back at work after this ordeal.  I’ll be wearing sunglasses for a while and have permission to do so.  Otherwise, I would have to talk about my face all day.  No thanks.

This time of year probably isn’t the season to undergo surgery like this, but I have no family close by so I wanted to get it over with.  I could still talk to them by phone and it doesn’t matter what I look like then.

So for anyone who receives cards from me, I apologize for falling off the wagon this year.  I didn’t even put out holiday decorations nor do any cooking.

I’m sleeping in a recliner until my stitches come out on the second.  Actually, I’ve found this arrangement to be much easier on my back, which is a good thing because exercise is out right now too.  Usually that’s the only thing that can get me moving in the morning.

I’ll give you more of a story on this whole trial when I can see well.

I hope you all had a very Happy Yule and Merry Christmas, as well as a great upcoming New Year, which is right around the corner.

More updates from the desert

Sorry for my sporadic posting.  There never seems to be enough hours in a day for everything.  I’ve been working as much as I can because I’ll be having eye surgery on the fifteenth to correct my dripping eyes.  I’m looking forward to this as it gets very old after several years with a runny eye situation going on.  I’m constantly asked “why are you crying?” at work.  I get tired of explaining to all the customers and carrying Kleenex in every pocket. 

I have to admit I had this situation under control for a short while by using the correct formula of eye drops for my dry eyes, but my bottom eyelids have tipped outward just enough to let the tears flow down my face all day long, instead of into my tear ducts.  This surgeon is going to tack my bottom eyelids up.  I’ve been waiting about three months for this surgery, so I’m looking forward to having this problem solved, but I’m nervous at the same time.  I’ve watched a lot of You Tube videos on these procedures.  The doctor told me to stop doing that because it was too scary, but actually all the disclaimers I had to sign were much scarier than the videos.  Of course doctors have to cover themselves for any scenario.  Hopefully, none of these possible bad things will happen to me.  I’m going in with a positive mind.

I’ll be off work for a minimum of four days due to swelling and black eyes.  I have to sleep in a recliner for the first four-five days because I have to sleep on my back all night and there’s no way I can do that with my back issues.  The recliner will be much better for me.  I can’t turn over if I want to and it’ll remind me not to.  I did sleep in a recliner once years ago when I broke some ribs.  It’s actually not that bad.

After the surgery, I’ll have to apply ice packs to my face all day long, as well as use eye drops and ointment on the incisions and stitches.  It’ll be an ordeal, but I’m hoping all goes smoothly and I’m back at work soon.  I got permission from my boss to wear sunglasses while I have black eyes and stitches because it’ll sure look better than my bare face.  I’ll have to update this situation later.  I’m hoping the sunglasses I found are light enough to be acceptable.  It’s very hard to find ones that are barely tinted.

I’m sure I’ll receive other instructions on Thursday and Friday.  Right now I’ve collected all the stuff I’ll need, supposedly, so I’m ready to get this over with.  I’ll be off the computer for a few days, at least, because my vision will be blurry due to the ointment.  I’m sure I should rest my eyes anyway and not be looking at a computer screen.  I did buy an audio book to listen to because reading will be out of the question too, as well as TV, at least for the first few days after.

 This is from Pinterest and is like the fox in the backyard

On another note, a few days ago we had a gray fox in the backyard.  It was beautiful and looked so well-groomed and perfect.  It came to drink water from the pans we have all over the yard for the animals that happen by.  Water is hard to find, in the desert, so we help them out.  We really wanted to get a picture, but the camera wouldn’t shoot through the glass windows and we knew he would run if we opened the door, so we just watched him.

We’ve had a few days in the forties and nights in the upper twenties, but nothing horrible yet, thank goodness.  I really hate the cold.  I know bad weather is coming soon though because December and January are the coldest months here.  I was shocked when my sister told me it snowed in south Texas on Friday.  They were colder than it was here.  Snow is a rare event there.  That makes only the third time it’s snowed there during my lifetime.  I remember the first time I ever saw snow.  I was about nine and it snowed only enough to cover the grass and dirt, but we kids were bundled up and out there trying to build a snowman out of whatever snow we could salvage.  It was a muddy snowman, but we were very proud of ourselves for all that effort.

I can’t believe Christmas is almost here again.  The years go by faster all the time.  I’m so unprepared this year and, due to the circumstances, I’m not putting up a tree.  I don’t have the time and I’ll be on bed-rest after this surgery anyway.  I can’t bend, or do anything much for a few days.  I hate to deprive the cats, but I have to.  They love that tree so much, but I’m not up for sweeping up broken ornaments every day and putting the tree back together.  I’m sure the rest of you are a lot more organized than I am.

Stay warm and well everyone.  I'll be back as soon as I can.

Cold weather is coming

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Our weather has been lovely for this time of year, but by Monday we have a cold snap coming in and it’ll be quite chilly for the immediate future.  Our lows will be in the twenties, but feeling more like the teens the weather station says.  This is devastating for me to hear because I hate cold weather.  I’ll just be glad to get it over with.

 This sunset is from a couple of weeks ago

 

We have been enjoying some nice orange and gold sunsets almost every evening.  That keeps me running for the camera.  I don’t have the photos downloaded yet of the latest ones.  I’ll have to post some later.

A whole new set of “blow-up toys” has appeared in the yard of the house three doors down from us.  The people who bought that house moved in last summer along with one of their kids who has kids.  So I imagine all these toys are to impress the grand-kids.  You would need a whole bay in the garage to store this stuff, but hubby mentioned they probably rented it.  That does make more sense.  While driving by in daylight, I did see a big dinosaur in back by the pool.  I imagine he’s there all year and isn’t a rented toy.

In other news, my hand is recovering slowly from my “big ouchy” I received on November 1^st while preparing for the tile job in the bedroom.  I damaged a tendon so now I have a gigantic cyst about the size of a quarter on top of my hand.  I went to the doctor again this week.  He told me years ago they used to call them “bible bumps” because the missionaries would get into accidents and they had no medical treatment for things like this, so they would drop heavy bibles on the cysts to make them go away.  He said this doesn’t work and I’ll only end up with a sore hand if I try it. 

He told me he could drain it, but there was a 30% chance of it coming back.  Of course I told him to go and get the stuff and do it.  But he wants me to wait another six weeks and see if it goes away on its own.  There’s a slim chance of that happening.  Then he told me it wasn’t so bad, but I let him know I didn’t intend on becoming friends with it and I want it gone.  He told me since the gash was barely healed he didn’t want to lance it yet because I could get an infection.  I personally felt he just didn’t want to deal with that right then.  So I guess I’m going back in there in six weeks to have it lanced.  No one seems to understand I just want to get things done and over with and move on.  I don’t want to have to keep going back for the same thing for weeks, not if I can help it.

In the interim, I’m to be careful for another couple of weeks and then I can resume my usual duties at work.  I do notice this hand cramps a lot so maybe that will resolve itself at least.

I’m also preparing for eye surgery on the 15^th.  That’s kept me running to get all the stuff I need for that because I’ll be confined to the house for a while.  It took me the longest time to pick out a lighter pair of sunglasses I can wear to work once I go back.  I’ll have stitches and bruises on my eyes so my boss told me sunglasses would be okay while they’re healing.  Part of my surgery will be paid for because the reason I’m having it done in the first place is to get rid of my running eyes.  That situation is driving me crazy.  So while I’m not looking forward to two black eyes, I can’t wait to be normal again and not have Kleenex in all my pockets to wipe my eyes every two minutes all day long.

I’ll be off work for four days because I have to keep an ice pack on my face.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get on the computer at all during that time because of the swelling from the surgery.  I’ve watched a few eye surgery videos and it seems I can expect for my eyes to be heavy and sleepy and I’ll want to rest them.  So thinking ahead, I bought a mystery audio book I can listen to with my eyes closed.  We’ll see how that goes.

Naturally, with all this going on, I’m not putting up the tree again this year.  I hope the cats will forgive me.  I only do it for them and will actually be glad to get the holidays behind us again.  They roll around way too quick for me.

More eye surgery is in my future

Yes, it’s true.  It seems like we’ve really been dealing with a lot of eye issues around here.  Hubby just had cataract surgery in both eyes and is still recovering from that.  I had both my eyes done in July 2016.

 Illustrations from Pinterest

I also have a dry eye problem that I’ve been suffering with for probably five years.  I thought I had finally found the right combination of eye drops and here we go again.  I have a different eye problem now and this one will require surgery.  Hmmm…My bottom eyelids have turned slightly outward so they won’t hold any eye drops (or regular eye lubrication) so I have to have them tacked up.  I see a specialist the middle of November.  She lives in Seattle and only comes here to this office once a month.  I expect I won’t have this surgery until December or January.  I’m going to be putting up with this a lot longer than I want to.  But I’m trying my best to do my daily activities and not let this set me back.

I’m not looking forward to having surgery but I really have to get rid of my drippy eyes.  The right one is worse than the left one.  It’s very hard to work in this condition because my eyes get so full of liquid that I can’t see until it falls down my cheek, drips on the floor, or I wipe my eyes every few minutes.  If I’m working this entails changing gloves, so it’s not unusual to go through a whole box of gloves during my shift at work.

I need to talk to this specialist before I learn any more about this procedure, but I do know she’ll do both eyes so they match each other.  From the way I understand it, my eyes will be slanted for a couple of months afterward until the surgery relaxes.  That’s really all I know at this time except it’s supposed to stop them from dripping all over the place all the time.  I’m all for that no matter how I look afterward as long as I can see and get rid of this constant wiping of my eyes.  All my pockets contain Kleenex, napkins, or pieces of toilet tissue, or paper towels.  I have to be prepared 24/7.  It’ll be a blessing to be rid of this once and for all.  But of course, I’ll do my due diligence and ask a million questions beforehand.  There will be more updates on this situation later.

Updates from the desert

Boy life sure does tend to get busy all the time, which leaves no extra time for writing.  I hate that but I know things won’t be like this forever.

Luckily, we aren’t working seven days a week now so that’s a good thing, although short-lived most likely, as the holidays aren’t even here yet when we seem to live at our place of employment.  As bad as it is holiday decorations are up all over now.  Xmas stuff showed up the end of September.  This is so disgusting to me.  It seems Thanksgiving is left out entirely most of the time.  Don’t people celebrate this day anymore?  Instead the isles are crammed with Halloween costumes and decorations and Xmas trees, ornaments and gift wrap. 

 Check out this beautiful sunrise

 

Thank goodness we have still had some decent temps here in the desert.  I know this situation will be changing soon, but for now it’s lovely to have the windows open and of course the cats love that.  I just wished it never got any colder.  I’m not looking forward to those days at all.

Hubby had cataract surgery last week and still has to do the other eye in another week.  His are spread two weeks apart, which I’m sure is because of Columbus Day coming up on Monday.  His experience has been different than mine.  He saw red lights and then white lights during his surgery.  Now is the stage when glasses aren’t really helping much at all (okay for one eye, but not the other one).  But this doesn’t keep him off the computer, or from watching TV.

 This is a male finch sitting on the edge of the water bowl on the patio

 

I have another eye appointment next Tuesday to see a specialist who comes here from Seattle once a month.  One of my eyes drips and runs constantly.  Supposedly, there’s another surgery to correct that.  The doctor says it’s covered by Medicare, but I have no idea at this point what the copay is or how much it is and what will be done to my eye.  The other eye is responding well to the dry eye drops I’m using in combination with an allergy eye drop.  I don’t know what I’m in for yet, but I’m really tired of having to wipe my eyes every five minutes.  But it’s that or let the tears run down my cheek all day.

 This is the amino acid for circulation.  I'm hoping it works.

 

When I had my consultation with the foot doctor who took care of the blisters on my feet, I was telling him about my circulation problems in the winter.  This only affects my hands and slightly my feet.  He recommended an amino acid called L’Arginine.  It’s not cheap and is bitter, but I figured I can endure anything to see if this helps.  After all, dead-looking fingers aren’t too attractive and I do have to work with the public serving food.  Plus, I can’t be rubbing them under a hot water faucet several times a day to bring them back to life.  So I started this stuff on the autumn equinox.  It’s powder that I mix with white grape juice.  There will be an update on this later.

In other news, car problems are an issue again.  I now need new shocks on the back of my car and the suspension system has to be serviced and straightened.  (I have to say this is original though and has never been replaced.)  This problem is wearing the inside of my back tires bald.  This repair is over $1.000, so my mechanic suggested I just buy new tires every year instead of doing this repair to a twenty-year-old car.  Tires aren’t cheap either at about $200 a piece, but I can afford to drive the car a while longer this way.  He said I may be able to go longer before replacing tires because I don’t put many miles on the car.  This is still in the thinking stage so hopefully the car will cooperate a bit longer before I have to replace the worst back tire.

 This is Jamie and Claire from Outlander

Here's Jamie from Outlander.  What a hunk of man and so brave and chivalrous.

 

Working doesn’t allow me much extra time so usually after dinner I try to watch recorded episodes of Outlander on Starz.  This is relaxing time for me.  I got hooked on this book series a few years back and have read all the books, but watching this show makes me want to drag them all out again and reread them.  I simply couldn’t put these books down the first time and even carried them to the kitchen to read while cooking.  If any of you are fans of time travel, historical Scottish highlands, sword fighting, romance and history, you should check this series out.  They are well researched and written and exciting enough to keep you turning the pages to see what happens next.

 The roadrunner preening itself on our wall.

 

I guess this is long enough for this time.  It’s back to work tomorrow serving free lunch to the Costco members, some of which never buy anything and have told me they are there only for lunch.  I sure hope my golden years aren’t so boring that I look forward to my daily Costco lunch.