Sunday, July 27, 2008

Stitches and stuff

Yesterday was "feel sorry for myself day". I had been to PT on Friday and it was very hard, in fact so hard she told me to take it easy. That put me in a down mood, pain and depression. I had been there with my hip. I remember feeling that I was worthless and would not be able to do anything again. I know we must work hard at pt but we almost must understand that there are sometimes two steps backwards and one step forward.

Tuesday the stitches will be removed. Hurrah! I am having a hard time at night and some other times because they are irritating. When I try to get comfortable in bed now they are in the way. Laying on my stomach feels like I have a metal zipper on my knee with teeth that stick out. Even now, I am sitting in my recliner typing with the laptop on my lap and I had to put a newspaper between the laptop and my stitches.

I spent several hours preparing for a program at a local state park as part of the Minnesota Sesquicentennial. Yesterday was presentation day. Total disappointment, only about eight people were present. We did a general examination of the people who lived in the park boundaries prior to them donating or being bought out. I had photos and stories of the people who settle the region in the early part of the twentieth century. I found it interesting but apparently others found the day too warm and beautiful to sit in a picnic shelter and step back into the past. They wanted to swim, fish, and sun bath. It was actually more than I could handle and when I arrived home I was exhausted. something like that is too much three weeks out after two major surgeries. I even ended up requesting someone else do opening exercises in Primary. I didn't get up until 9 am so it was a good thing I had found someone.

Today, I have focused on doing some stretching exercises so when I go to pt tomorrow I will not be so stiff. Knee stiffness has been a real problem as well as feeling like I have a a 2-3 inch elastic band around my lower thigh just above my knee following exercising or walking. I walked about 1/3 mile today and was very sore after that. I iced it but it didn't seem to help the pain. I am trying to ween myself off of the Vikaden. I'm not sure but perhaps this is causing me to have some nausea. I think I need to learn what the word Patience means!

I just put my head back for a minute and fell asleep, then woke myself snorting! I wonder how many other people do the same thing.

Here in northern Minnesota summer has reached the midpoint. The Roseau Co. Fair ended on Friday with the demolition derby and fire works. I would not be surprised if Polaris Industries provided the fire works. I was too tired to even consider attending the evening fireworks. I did go out to lunch with a friend at one of the food stands at noon though. I always get a little nostalgic at this time of year, realizing that soon we will be harvesting wheat, then canola, and finally soybeans. The mad rush to get the crop off will cause us to lose the final days of summer as we rush from field to bin getting in the harvest before a rain storm. The wheat definitely looks like a beautiful wave of grain, although not totally amber yet.

More on Polaris...Polaris was first developed in our little town of 2,800, although the population was probably more like 1,500 when David Johnson, Paul Knochenmus, and Orlen Johnson developed their first snowmobile in the mid 1950s. Although this wasn't what Polaris Industry founder Edgar Hetteen had in mind for his company, they were making farm machinery at the time, the Polaris snowmobile is a common word in the homes of moat families where there is snow. But that is a story for another time as we lived In Hoyt Lakes Minnesota when we owned our first snowmobiles. Today we do own a Polaris snowmobile and a Polaris six-wheeler with pride. My husband couldn't live without his six-wheeler on our farm. He checks fields, hauls small loads of dirt and gravel, uses it as a ladder sometimes when he is working in an area that is easier to access with the bed of the dump in the back, hauls tools, a small portable air compressor, etc. across our farmstead when working on machinery. The six-wheeler is his portable workhorse.

Time to rest again!

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