12 years of Blog Anniversary

/

This blog started in November 2011…just after I made the decision to retire. 12 years have certainly been full of new adventures…a satisfying mix of days that were challenging and full of activity … also plenty to savor and enjoy. The blog helped me document much of what happened.

Last year I documented the changes within the blog over the first 11 years so I won’t repeat that. The main change over the past year has been my more regular visits to Carrollton, TX that resulted in a monthly visits to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (near Sherman TX), observations in my parents’ yard, and the birds at a park in Carrollton….and subsequent blog posts. There were also 1st visits to many places close to where we moved in Missouri that became fodder for blog posts as well.

I am anticipating that the 13th year of the blog will document our return to attending birding festivals and include more posts about elder care…documenting the journey my sisters and I have with our parents.

Previous anniversary posts: 11th anniversary, 10th anniversary

Settling in, developing new routines – 4th month

/

Our 4th month in Missouri was calmer than the first 3. There is still a lot to be done but we stopped pushing ourselves to keep the pace we had earlier. There are boxes to be unpacked but they are in the storage area and not things we use frequently.

The kittens got their first visit to the vet and are engaging in all our indoor activities. More about them in an upcoming post.

Our yard is looking much better than it did earlier in the summer when it was so hot and dry. We have a yard service for this season so all I am doing is pulling weeds in the flower beds. I am cutting roses to bring into my office. I am also making big plans to transition caring for the yard to myself (the new lawn mower will be electric!) and putting in more bushes (American Beautyberry and oak leaf hydrangea are at the top of my list).

The morning routine in my office has changed slightly because it is dark when I first get there – no watching the birds at the feeder while I enjoy my 1st breakfast (dark chocolate). It is also cooler. I’m using the halogen lamps to flood the room with light and provide a little heat.

Our thermostats in this house are not as sophisticated as the one we had in Maryland. We’ve stayed on ‘Cool’ so far; it’s chilly in the morning but comes on once or twice in the late afternoon and evening. The wall heater in the main bathroom is wonderful – something we haven’t had in any of our previous houses…another aspect to appreciate about this house.

Travel. I did my monthly trip to Carrollton TX…and we made several local outings. We haven’t started the day trips as quickly as I thought we would but October is a prime month for being outdoors and enjoying the fall. I am anticipating my first travel not associated with the move or family in the coming month.

I got out our Halloween decorations (one of our neighbors has a very elaborate Halloween yard) and discovered that they don’t work very well for the front porch in this house; the front door is a muted red…does not go well with orange…and there is not nail in the door. I may just put the decorations inside. On the plus side – the front door will work very well for our Thanksgiving Indian corn and our Christmas wreath…once we add a nail.

I’ve decided to wait for volunteer activities or in-person classes. I would miss too much since I already am committed to be away from home a week of every month. When I am at home…I need to finish the unpacking and continue the hone everything about this place into the home we want.

Intentions 2022

/

At the end of last year, I posted about what I thought would be different about 2022 for me – things that I wanted to make happen. Now that the year is half over, I am assessing my progress on the four areas I wrote about last December.

Releasing myself from some of my daily metrics. This has been the hardest change…and I still find myself pushing for the 12,000 steps…4 books…2,000 words each day. But there are days where other priorities have prevailed such as tasks on the critical path for our move from Maryland to Missouri. So far, I’ve ‘made up’ for the low days on books and words…am averaging the goal for 2022. I’ve not made very much of a change!

Reverting to a cleaner/neater house. In the Maryland house, the piles of boxes that accumulated over the three months before we moved made it harder to clean although we did clean the areas we could get to and cleaned items that were being packed. The house ended up sparkling after the carpeting was replaced; 35+ year old carpeting in a house that always had at least one cat is a cleaning challenge! In our new house, we are vacuuming frequently to clear the dog hair (previous owner)…successfully based on the vacuum canister not filling up as quickly as it did originally. We are still unpacking but there are lots of spaces to put things away and we are striving to keep more surfaces clear. The laundry chute is a plus – no hamper or other laundry receptacle in the bedroom. This intention is still a work in progress but both my husband and I are making the effort; we are motivated to have the house comfortable….keep it cleaner and neater than our Maryland house.

Look for the unique. It’s a habit now…I record something unique at the end of each day and have been surprised how easy it is to identify an event or sight or food…that was a 1st or one/only. The habit has caused a slight change in my attitude. I am more likely to look from a unique perspective or try something new than I was a year ago!

Moving to live closer to my daughter. Done! We are still working through the aftermath…address changes, new licenses/registrations, completely unpacking. Of all the changes I anticipated at the beginning of the year…this is the big one. It probably happened faster than I thought it would. We’ve owned our house in Missouri for about 1.5 months now – enough time to realize we make a great choice. I’m already set to make a fall road trip with my daughter, accompanying her on a road trip to Canada for her to attend a conference – something I would have not been able to do if we still lived in Maryland.

I am doing so well on my intentions made at the beginning of the year that I am adding to the list for the remaining months:

Spend some time each month with my parents (Carrollton).

Design/implement landscaping tweaks to our yard in the fall.

Start volunteering (again).

Blooming in our Yard

/

It’s been very dry in Missouri since we arrived in June and the sprinkler system was not working until we had it repaired….but there are still plants that are managing to bloom! The hostas are thriving in the shady parts of the yard and ants seem to enjoy them.

There are 4 crepe myrtle plants (one in back and three in front) in various stages of blooming they all seem a little different shade of red – pink – purple.

I’ve cut one to branch bring inside and have read some articles about how to prune them.

The roses are small, but the 2 bushes are prolific.  I occasionally bring a flower inside but enjoy photographing them on the bush; I’ve noticed that they are different shades of red. After the blooms are done, I clip off the forming hip and hope that it will give the plant more energy to put on new growth.

Overall – I am pleased with the plantings in the yard…already full of plans to supplement them: bulbs, a oak leaf hydrangea, some perennials for pollinators.

Are we ready for the movers?

/

We have another day before the movers arrive to load the truck. Are we ready? Other than the short list of things to do tomorrow – I think we are. We packed 3 boxes today with 2 of them still open to receive the small items (mostly light bulbs) still in use.

We’re in the mode now of cleaning up – getting extra packing materials carted away and vacuuming. I am beginning to put painters’ tape to indicate ‘do no move.’ Most items we are not moving are small and in closets out of the way so I can close the door and put the tape on the outside of the closet but there are some other items like metal shelves in the garage and basement that are larger….and the television which will be on the hearth….ready to go into my car shortly after the movers are done; I’ll be leaving for Missouri the following day.

My husband is going to make a video of the rooms to document the contents (just in case something arrives damaged)…and also as a keepsake.

The list for tomorrow includes putting our computers into a closet (since they will be going in our cars)…folding up tables. We already prepped the floor lamps – a day before I had that task on my schedule.

 I also have a list for the morning of the day the movers are due (mainly removing bedding)!

Plans and more plans

/

As it gets closer to the time the movers will arrive at our Maryland house, I find myself making detailed plans for just about everything: food, clothing, how the cars will be loaded, internet service.

I’ve managed to use up things like protein powder and eggs. I have the milk planned to be gone before I leave for Missouri and the closing of our new house. I have one leftover that will go with me as my ‘meal in the hotel’ but otherwise the refrigerator will be mostly empty except for items my husband will need for the time he will be here monitoring the re-carpeting and the house being listed for sale. We may or may not come back for when this house closes so all the food in the house will be gone when he leaves.

The weather has gotten hot and is likely to stay that way. I have one light weight jacket…otherwise I am wearing summer clothes and flip flops (although just in case I am taking a few pairs of socks and a pair of regular shoes). I’ll do laundry a day or so after closing on our Missouri house. With the warm weather…the space needed for clothes is reduced; most will be on the truck.

Space in the car is at a premium because we are minimizing the driving between Maryland and Missouri. I will do it twice but my husband will only make the drive once…..unless be both decide to come back for a last goodbye to the house as it transitions to a new owner. My Prius Prime is small so I have mapped out where items will go in the car…how I will organize the loading. I’ve already made adjustments to my plan by delaying the loading of my car somewhat to avoid 90-degree temperatures!

My husband is handling the utilities; both of us are keen to minimize the time we are without internet service in both locations! Doing everything on our phones at a time when so much is happening makes us anxious.

Overall – the planning has reassured us that everything that needs to be done….is on track (so far).

Cancer Diary – Entry 7

/

A flurry of pre-op activity….the discipline of getting to appointments on time and filling the waiting time between.

The uptick in activity pre-surgery increased two weeks before the surgery date with an appointment with my primary care physician for bloodwork, EKG, and chest x-ray. Everything came back good for the surgery; however, there was a ‘nodule’ that showed up on the chest x-ray. There was a follow-up CT Chest that indicated that the issue seen in the x-ray was not there (i.e. the ‘nodule’ seen in the x-ray was a shadow or other artifact rather than something real). I was very discombobulated by the x-ray and was glad I could get an appointment for the follow-up the next day. The data from the tests done by my primary care physician were posted on the surgeon’s portal 9 days afterward….I was glad to know they had gotten to their destination.

Three days before surgery, I had a PCR test for COVID-19 at a drive through testing site for surgery patients (i.e. not a site for the general public/symptomatic people). It was my first experience with a PCR test and was easier than I expected:

  • We had gotten 3 inches of snow overnight and my appointment was at 9 AM, but the streets were relatively clear, and I drove up to the parking lot testing location a few minutes early; there was no line; the guard checked me in, and I drove into the tent where a nurse with full head gear respirator checked my ID and did the test.

  • The nurse did not need to swab deep in my nose!

  • Supposedly the results will be available and posted to the portal within 48 hours…the day before the surgery.

A person from the outpatient surgery center called with some final instructions:

  • No food after midnight, no liquid after 6:30 AM….and stopping certain supplements. I already knew those things from previous instructions, but it was good to be reminded.

  • I need to shower with antibacterial soap (like Dial) and not apply anything post shower; I made a special early morning trip to the grocery store to get the appropriate soap.

  • They are on heightened COVID protocols now and have closed waiting rooms - recommended that my husband drop me off and return at the time the nurse specifies during a call to him when my surgery is complete; he will never go into the building. I will be at the surgery center for at least 5 hours.

  • When the nurse calls my husband after my surgery concludes, she will also provide details for at-home/follow-up care and then I will get the same thing in writing before I leave the facility. One question we’ll ask is whether we should proactively assume I might have been exposed to COVID and should implement our strategy of masking/separation-when-unmasked at home.

  • The time I need to arrive for surgery was 15 minutes earlier than I was told previously.

  • I needed to provide insurance and billing information to the pharmacy at the facility so the nurse could pick up any prescription I needed to send home with me.  

  • The exact location in the building where I need to go when I arrive was also indicated; all I had before was the address of the building.

  • The list of things I should bring with me is short enough to fit in my coat pocket: insurance card, glasses case, phone, photo id. They already have my medication list in their files.

I am set to stay near the bedroom on the second floor of our house for at least the 1st 24 hours after surgery. Snacks and flowers and supplements are on top of my dresser. There is a small folding table and chair set up in case I want to eat a meal or two up there.

I am relieved that the surgery is going to happen as scheduled (not cancelled or delayed because of increased hospitalization due to COVID-19) and reassured after the conversation with the person from the surgery center; it was good to talk to a real person!

Next Cancer Diary post will be about my perception of the surgery day…

Previous cancer diary posts:

Most Memorable 2021

/

Looking back at 2021…the upheavals of 2020 continued: the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental/climate disasters, racial strife, and strident politics. This is the same list from my 2020 post; when I wrote it, I was optimistic about 2021…the year turned out to be worse in terms of unheaval. Even so – 2021 was still a good year…my personal experience overcoming the dramas happening in the country and world.

High drama times

  • Strident politics. In my life there are two traumatic national events that I remember vividly prior to 2021: JFK’s assassination when I was in 4th grade and planes impacting the World Trade Center/Pentagon (9/11). The January 6th attack on the US Capitol is now on the list too. My feelings watching the events as they occurred on 1/6/2021 were like what I felt watching the events on 9/11/2001: surprise, horror, fear that the US was being attacked and would either be forever changed or cease to exist. January 6th was probably worse than 9/11 because the attack was coming from within. A bright note -  occurring shortly after this black one, was Amanda Gorman’s poem/performance at Joe Biden’s inauguration; kudos to her; I wish that the warm glow of that moment would have become more infused in the year. Now…almost a year later, the anxiety for the health of the US Democracy is still there…underlying everything else going on. It’s frightening that a vocal minority evidently does not want democracy to continue; they want to control the way votes are counted to ensure their candidate wins or if their candidate does not win an election, they want ‘officials’ to override the results (based on the state election laws recently passed/proposed).  

  • Pandemic. At the beginning of 2020, the vaccines were just beginning to roll out; the trend looked very positive until the summer when it became more obvious that there were too many people refusing to be vaccinated….partly linked to politics in the country. Another drama that is at the intersection of politics and the pandemic is the increase in unruly passengers on planes – many times over the face mask requirement. The Delta variant and now the Omicron variant impacted the unvaccinated the most; at the end of the year, we haven’t surpassed the mid-January 2021 peak hospitalizations, but the Omicron variant cases have spiked very recently and the hospitalizations have started upward; more of the vaccinated are testing positive with the Omicron variant and having mild cases that don’t require hospitalization…the benefit of being vaccinated. It is so easy for misinformation to propagate…so many people that don’t question sources even if what they are hearing/reading does not seem plausible (i.e. that a drug to treat parasitic infections in animals would be an effective COVID-19 treatment) and individuals sometimes request that doctors provide the ineffective treatment! It must be incredibly stressful for medical professionals not only to treat increasing numbers of COVID patients (mostly that refused vaccination) but also to have patients that want to demand their own treatment again medical advise.

  • Racial (or any people seen as ‘different’) strife. There have been some high drama cases (Chauvin, Potter) that have achieved accountability…but no solid indication that policing practices are changing yet. And the arguments over US history in schools and books in libraries seem to be reverting to Jim Crow era strategies in some instances…and have long lasting implications. There is an intersection with strident politics too: the laws pasted to reduce access to voting my minorities in many states.

  • Environment/climate disasters. They are happening so frequently now that we are beginning to see them as normal…although the tornadoes that swept through Kentucky in December were unusual enough to made headlines. The financial impact of this ‘new normal’ is as devastating as the event itself. At what point will they overwhelm our economy?

Resuming road trips….seeing family.  As soon as I was fully vaccinated, I started traveling again but only to see family rather than for birding festivals or museums or national parks. Road trips are a way to travel with lots of control over interactions with other people. There were some big family events this year: a wedding and my daughter buying her first house; it was a great pleasure to be present for those and to be with my 90-year-old parents again! A big place: no one in the immediate family has tested positive for COVID so far…and we are continuing to be cautious.

Medical catch up. In 2020 I had put off regular doctor’s appointments and the number of issues that came from the restart of regular checkups in summer 2021 was a bit more than I expected…particularly the cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, all the issues are very treatable…no indirect long term health impact from the pandemic.

CSA to farmer’s market. I anticipated that I would be traveling for weeks at a time to Texas so didn’t sign up for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in 2021…but was pleasantly surprised by the offerings of our local farmers market. It is something I will remember about 2021.

As 2021 ends - I am not as optimistic about 2022 as I was at the end of 2020 about 2021. January 6th (and aftermath) has fundamentally changed my perspective of democracy in the US. On a smaller scale - within my home and family, the resilience we all developed during 2020 has been sustained and may be permanent simply because we are so consciously aware that we need it!

What will I do different in 2022?

/

At the end of 2021, I am thinking about changes over the next year. There will be changes that I don’t anticipate…events requiring me change in some way; those changes I am not going to worry about; I’ll deal with them as they occur. What I’m thinking about for this post are changes that are intentional…that require my action to bring to fruition. Here are some possibilities I’m contemplating:

Releasing myself from some of my daily ‘metrics’ that have accumulated over the years. The one that has certainly gone ‘over the top’ during the pandemic has been book browsing; in 2021, I browsed over 2,000 books! The metric started back in 1985 with the goal of reading a book a week. Maybe some of the others that could be reduced or the metric allowed to float rather than always being a stretch goal for every day.

Look for the unique. Now that my blog has been going for over 10 years, I’m realizing things I repeat again an again…and need to force myself out of the rut more frequently. Sometimes it would be as simple as taking a totally different kind of photograph than I normally do…it would take more effort to go to places I have never been before…or to become more patient in locations where I go frequently to observe them in a new way.

Reverting to a cleaner/neater house. I’ve been gradually getting messier as I’ve gotten older: leaving things out on surfaces rather than putting them away…not vacuuming and dusting as frequently. I want to move back to my younger-self version of housekeeping in 2022.

Moving to live closer to my daughter…within a 30-minute drive seems about right. It would be much better than the current 2-day drive. The situation we’ve be in during the pandemic has made it more important to me. It will be a huge change to move from the house we have lived in for over 25 years and our first long distance move in almost 40 years. There would be a cascade of changes from this one: quickly locating service providers and shopping in the new location, picking new volunteer gigs, etc. There could be tweaks to a new house that would keep us busy for months. And selling our existing house would be a project that would enable the move. The time commitment for this change is higher than anything else we have done in recent years.

Of course – intentions are not sure things. It takes focus and sustained action; there could be events that preclude some of these. Time will tell - I’ve already made a note to follow-up on how these intentions are progressing in July 2022.

Hopes for 2021

/

I followed my tradition of putting away holiday decorations on New Year’s Eve…taking a few pictures as I made my way around the house taking things apart…gathering it all to take downstairs to the storage bins and boxes…packing is all away. I put the maple seedling and dried sunflowers I’d kept in my office window out in the front flower bed….a cleaning out to begin the new year.

I started thinking about what I hope will happen for us in 2021. Here’s my wish list for the country –

  • A transition of national leadership….and immediate focus of that new team on the response to the pandemic and initiation of actions based on data and wisdom rather than political whim…thus calming the mental stress that was increased by the leadership-created-chaos of 2020.

  • Organized rollout of vaccines across the country – setting reasonable expectations of the process and the results of the program.

  • Pace of economic recovery increasing as the pandemic subsides.

  • Approaching pre-pandemic types of activities by fall 2021.

For myself and my family – I hope that

  • We all stay vigilant protecting ourselves for getting COVID-19…and we get the vaccine before mid-year.

  • We can visit in-person (also by mid-year).

  • I get to return to my volunteer gigs!

  • By the fall, there will be in-person birding festivals to enjoy

It could be better….the vaccination rollout happens faster than it appears to be at this point!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2021!

The August Pivot

/

What a difference a year makes! Last year in August I was finishing up Zentangle sessions and butterfly migration games with Howard County Conservancy summer campers

And ramping up my volunteer shifts with the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit that would continue into mid-September.

My husband and I made a day trip to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge where I managed to photograph a cicada in foliage (following its sound).

2019 08 IMG_9940.jpg

Somethings were the same: there was the weekly pickup of the CSA share and grocery shopping (although I did it weekly rather than every other week).

Another aspect of the month that is turning out to be similar is the pivotal aspect of the month. For so many years of our lives, we have been so tuned to the school year that it only seems natural that August is a starting point – a change over from relatively free form summer to more structured ‘school.’ Even though we don’t have the forcing function of an actual school – we invent the pivot for ourselves.

Last year we were making plans for the fall and early winter: an astronomy focused camping trip, a birding trip to Smith Island, day trips to Conowingo (for the Bald Eagles), Thanksgiving in Springfield MO, a day trip to the Maryland State House, 3 days Delmarva birding, and the a trip to Texas for a family visit and then the Laredo Birding Festival. All in the September to February period. The travel was interspersed with lots of volunteer gigs.

The pivot is still happening this year but the plans are just for the early fall and are all birding festivals that have gone virtual: Yampa Valley (Colorado) Crane Festival Sept. 3-6, Puget Sound Bird Fest Sept. 12-13, Cape May Fall Festival Oct. 2-4, and Hawaii Island Festival of Birds Oct. 15-19. The two big festivals in November (Rio Grand Valley and Festival of the Cranes) have cancelled this year. I’m looking forward to the virtual festivals in September and October… and on the lookout for opportunities for virtual travel or online classes in November, December, and January.