1. No, the condo hasn't sold. Of course, as usual, I've probably chosen the worst time to try and sell. Made only THAT more difficult by the simple fact that the tenant pissed off and now, on a part time job, I'm trying desperately not to freak out at the attempt to pay rent, a mortgage, doctor's bills, condo fees, bills, food, a line of credit, an overdraft and, yes people, FOUR credit cards. (Thank you, yet again, Canadian Military, for the last three debts)
2. Before you helpfully suggest I work more, let me point out that well, I can't. I work the maximum my body allows me to. I still regularly miss work. I am, inside myself, far calmer, empathetic and content and I enjoy my job so even if I could force myself into working more, no matter how badly I need the money - I won't. I sleep a LOT. It's not depression, it's just how I deal, cuddled up with the Cabbages and my down comforter while my body and mind regain and maintain equilibrium. I worked a 15 hour shift last weekend alone - during a full moon and on the busiest, craziest, short staffed Sunday I've seen in 3 and a half years. Not once did I get angry, snap at anyone, freak out, feel overwhelmed or not take the time out to hold someone's hand if they needed me to. You should all be so lucky to encounter me during your hospital stay because I am damn good at not only my job, but patient care as well.
3. I think at last count I had 8 raccoons? One of the "f"'s (Frick or Frack, who are two of the 'strays' and not of the original momma from last year) brought three of the most adorably roly-poly babies by a few weeks ago and so now, yes, I have 11.
4.Rowan (with only one working paw), the mother of Bushy Sue, Boone, Darryl and Darryl (who are VERY big boys), the aforementioned Frick and Frack, the as yet unnamed babies and Agnes. Agnes is very old and she usually comes alone, eats a bit, has a nap on the lawn by the door, eats a bit more, groans in pain and wanders off. (pictures below - Agnes -replenishing her will to eat; momma and babies; and 5 in a row (Darryl, Darryl- who are quite obviously #'s 3 and 5 from the left), Bushy Sue, Boone, the other F.) Click to biggify.
5. All of these pictures were taken without zoom. Whatever you think about the fact that I feed the raccoons (and please don't share that with me - I don't care), imagine for a moment that you are sitting outside relaxing with a glass of wine, juice, beer whatever, a cigarette and eight (the most I get at any one time) wild animals two to three feet from you. Wild animals who peacefully co-exist with your pets and you (and seriously, I am sick of hearing about how one day they'll shred my cats, that's just ignorant). It changes how you see the world. Many of my friends have come over to experience this and find it just as enthralling as I do. We're all here 7 days a week, if you'd like to stop by.
6. I haven't worn my uniform since Oct 22, 2007. Even after all that's happened and although I am waiting for my medical release papers (honorable discharge to you 'mericans) I am still required to show up at the unit at the minimum required now that I am 'okay' for light duties. Otherwise, I'm NES (non-effective strength) (AWOL to you 'mericans). How freakin' stupid is that? *sigh* This Wednesday is the last chance I have. Goody.
7. Yesterday, my shift at work started at 7 am and after blowdrying this mop of hair upside down I flipped up and..... pulled some large muscle in my neck and shoulder. Not one of those, "ow! but in five minutes it'll be okay pulls", as I found out to my chagrin over the next few hours at work, but one of those "how dare you move your head and arm, you will be PUNISHED with excrutiating pain that makes you cry out" kind of pulls. I came home as soon as the next shift showed and spent the rest of yesterday and today alternating between ice packs, heating pads and tiger balm. How sissy is my body these days? Sheesh. I should be good to go back for my final shift of the week tomorrow though.
8. No news on any of the compensation fronts yet.
9. I don't know if I've said this before but I think my family doctor has been looking for a blanket diagnosis for what's happened to me as opposed to what I think is going on - which is four different things. One - the lumbar spine and cervical spine issues which cause the large muscles in my legs to stop working. Two - the massive stress which ramped up the jaw-clenching and caused the migraines. Three - the stress fracture in my femur (which I can't even, in the face of overwhelming evidence, get my GP to admit). And, last but certainly not least, four - the shoulder issue and arm pain issue.
10. However, I did get into see a sports medicine specialist a couple weeks ago (NOT the one who gave me an appointment 8 months after the request but one that I saw 2 weeks after the request to him). He and I looked only at the fracture and the shoulders. His letter to the GP will definitely confirm the femoral stress fracture and he thinks I possibly had a hip stress fracture as well. I still have one shoulder / arm - the one that was 2 inches lower than the other when I came home from basic - that still hurts constantly. He thinks it's rotator cuff impingement - my chiro thinks is brachial plexus impingement. I'm more inclined to go with the chiro's assessment but regardless, we can all agree that something is impinged in my shoulder. The sports guy gave me some exercises to stabilize my shoulders, as they are "sloppy" and if they haven't helped after two months then we'll be looking at surgery or injections. So far, I'm actually seeing some small improvement. These things are all good, as they represent small steps forward and further evidence for my various compensation issues with the big machine.
11. A few weeks ago, I began to have organic fruits and vegetables delivered by the lovely people at Spud (Small Potatoes Urban Delivery). You set up a "fresh harvest" box and fill out a bloody long form choosing certain things "all the time", "most of the time when available", "sometimes" and "never, ugh, I hate this" and every couple weeks a delivery man (I call them my "Spud muffins") comes by, picks up the Rubbermaid container from the last delivery and replaces it with your new delivery. They do let you know the week before what they've got on your list so you can change things around and there's a price limit you set. I get $30 every two weeks. And yes, it's far more expensive than "regular" produce but that sort of forces me to damn well eat it all and not leave anything in the fridge to rot. It's kind of a cool concept and although organic produce tends to be erm... small and beat up looking, I'm enjoying that this stuff is mostly local, they donate some of the proceeds, the variety of foods and the chance to try things I've never had before. Seriously, before last week, I'd never eaten chard.
12. The very small amount of this video that I watched made me physically ill. I can't even embed it. I urge every one of you to sign the petition governing pig farming. Or, at least, stop buying Hormel meat. I myself, love pork. And I'll keep eating it. But I believe it's the responsibility of all of us to ensure that these animals who give their (mostly, sad and uncomfortable lives for us) - as well as a basic right of the animals - are treated in the best, most humane manner we have available to us.
13. Like I said above, I'm an unabashed meat eater and I can't see myself ever stopping that. However, I think that as an extension of the aromatherapy I've been studying and the things I make now for myself, my awareness has begun to overflow into all aspects of my life. I try to be far more aware of the things I do. I carry my own cloth bags. I order organic shampoos and body products (those I don't already make myself) online. I recycle EVERYTHING I can. When I order groceries, I ask for paper bags so I can put them in my recycling. I keep an eye on the WWF website to find out what they recommend (blue fin tuna - bad! overfished!) and I follow their recommendations and suggestions the best I can.
14. I also buy more fish as well these days and I try to buy seafood from New Zealand. There is an awesome article in the National Geographic titled Blue Haven that I urge you to read regarding their no-fishing reserves. The part I find most interesting is the findings below:
For reasons not fully understood, when areas are closed to fishing, snapper aggregate within them, forming large resident populations. Spiny rock lobsters ("crayfish" to New Zealanders) do the same. Their density inside the reserve is about 15 times higher than outside. Commercial crayfishermen have cashed in on the reserve's success because the outward migration of crayfish—a process marine biologists call spillover—brings the crustaceans to their pots, strategically placed just outside the boundary. These former skeptics are now some of the reserve's staunchest defenders. They refer to it as "our reserve" and act as marine minutemen, reporting poachers and boundary cheats.
Spillover and larval export—the drifting of millions of eggs and larvae beyond the reserve—have become central concepts of marine conservation. Reserves where fishing is banned are now seen as potential stud farms and fish hatcheries, replenishing the surrounding seas. Research at Goat Island has provided some of the strongest evidence of this replenishment effect—research made possible by the fact that the reserve has been closed to fishing for 30 years.
15 WARNING: the squeamish may want to skip this part. The other thing I started in the last few weeks was using cloth menstrual pads. All I'm going to say is... not as icky as I thought, nice and comfy and I feel damn good about reducing plastic in landfills at the end of every one of those five days.
16. One of the main things (after torrents and before communication) I use the internet for, as I've said before, is to look things up on the fly. Gardening. Recipes. A song I heard on TV. Something I'm reading about in a book. A word. A concept. A religion.
Last week I was reading a book (The Judas Strain, see right sidebar) and I came upon a description of Christmas Island, where millions of land crabs migrate to the sea to lay their eggs every year. Thinking that sounded kind of bloody awesome and not even knowing that something like a crab who lived inland in burrows even existed I went directly to the internet to look it up. It was all true. Christmas Island is 52 sq miles in land area and north west of Australia - roughly 150 MILLION crabs migrate every year. Each female gives birth to about 100,000 babies. It's been added to my intinerary (when I finally get outta here) but I totally can't understand how absolutely NO ONE I know (so far) thinks this would be awesome to witness.