Year's End

Hmm, as one blogger put it about the end of 2005: "Goodbye and don't let the door hit your @ss on the way out!"

What a lousy, miserable, disasterous year this has been, (personally and internationally) and I doubt anyone will regret seeing it END. We can only hope next year will be better!

I would list all my personal woes but have done so already in other entries this year on this blog. Suffice to say, I sure am glad to see it's almost over! :-)

I had a great Christmas gathering with my family, and got some good photos. Again (as Thanksgiving) we were all there, and enjoyed ourselves.

DH's broken toes and shin wound are improving, though he has to take an additional week of cipro. But he's doing much better, still limping, but the doctor says it will just take some time to heal.

Yesterday I had a little adventure: I went on a bike ride, since it was unexpectedly mild, pleasant weather -- in the high 60s. I decided to ride to a small, isolated, forgotten cemetery and finally take some photos. I found this place back last summer, but just never had my camera with me when I biked. It is located off the main highway, alongside a narrow paved road, a neglected, long-ago, overgrown cemetery with several graves; most of them are marked only with big rocks. However, there is only one headstone -- and one grave with an above-ground cement slab covering. That is the one where I captured a 'ghost' looking out of a huge crack at the bottom of the broken slab!

Without further ado, here's the pictures:

This above pix shows a huge stone with a plaque listing a couple of civic groups who wanted to "mark" the "Forgotten Christian Cemetery"

The above pix shows the only headstone, aged badly, engraving too faded to read

Most graves are marked by big rocks, like these piled against a tree


If you click on this photo and look at the larger image, please notice in the bottom of the broken slab there is a freakish infared-etched ghostly face with a gaping mouth! As usual, I DID NOT see this when I was snapping the photo.

It was actually a fun, refreshing outing -- nice to get outdoors. The wind was fierce though, and gave me quite a hard workout on the bike riding against it!

And so this year draws to an end...without any significantly good, happy memories to savor. I think I'll just try to forget it, frankly.

Happy New Year to all!

Christmas Plans

First, Merry Christmas to all who read this blog! Hope you have a wonderful holiday, enjoy the weekend and get at least ONE gift you really, really love.

Looks like DH and I will attend my family's gathering after all. My sister talked me into it! I went on a last-minute gift-buying frenzy yesterday, got all the presents wrapped today, so I'm set to go. We'll have the get-together on Christmas Eve at the same sister's house where we had Thanksgiving. I'm hoping of a repeat performance -- everyone there, warmth, joy. I'm especially hoping I get some great pictures of us all together with my new camera, since I can select the best and get it printed.

We've had COLD weather this week, but it'll warm up tomorrow and then possibly rain late Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, in the afternoon, DH and I will see a movie at the nearby theater. I'm still undecided on which movie we'll watch, but there's several showing that look promising. I'm leaning more toward seeing "Rumor Has It"...since I was a big fan of the long-ago movie, "The Graduate."

DH's broken toes are healing well; however, he has a nasty-looking bruise/gash on his shin that happened at the same time. Apparently the horse's hoof hit DH's shin first, which is a more serious problem. The orthopedic doctor has him on the antibiotic cipro, and he's wearing a "boot" brace. But the shin wound keeps getting irritated, and is badly swollen, tender, sore, hot. He is following doctor's orders, but having some pain with that area. We just hope it heals, and the infection responds to the cipro.

He's beginning to have doubts about the whole horse thing, now that he realizes the complications that can arise from injuries and/or the medications. I wouldn't be as alarmed over him having minor accidents if he were not on so much heart medication that can truly cause complications. For example, the Plavix thins his blood so much that the least little bump produces a HUGE knot/bruise which takes days, if not weeks, to heal. IF he should ever get a head injury, we both fear that the bleeding around his brain would be a disaster!

Frankly, if it were me, I'd half the dosage of ALL the doctor has ordered. Once I was on extremely dangerous medication, and had I not cut it waaaay lower than the recommended dosage (eventually stopped taking it without the nephrologist's permission), I'm sure I'd be dead by now -- not from the kidney ailment I have, but from the "medication." But he has to make his own choices and decisions.

New update at my CR Diet blog; link on the sidebar, if anyone is interested in my dieting adventures.

I'll close with a picture I took this weekend of a roadside swamp; I thought the treestump shadows were interesting.

Bad news...again

The year from hell continues!

When DH returned from horseback riding Saturday he said that his horse had stepped on his foot. We examined it, and the toes just looked badly bruised. He said it was sore, but not terribly painful...and he didn't think the toes were broken. He takes Plavix (a blood thinner, ironically called 'rat poison' by his cardiologist once!) and we assumed some of the purplish bruising was due to excessive bleeding beneath the skin, not a break.

Sunday we did our usual thing: went on a short drive. I took some pictures of various places along the way, and then we returned home. DH's toes were still swollen, so this morning he went to the doctor. And of course, the toes are broken! He has to see an orthopedic doctor tomorrow afternoon; for now, he's wearing a brace. He's at work, since his vacation is over, but he stays at a desk most of the time anyway.

I think his days of horseback riding (and having horses) are numbered -- due to all the heart medication he takes, and the accident potential.

I knew this year couldn't possibly end without MORE problems. I sure won't be sorry to see January 1st 2006 arrive!!!!

And just so I won't forget this: While we were at one place, I took a photo of DH. Then he took a couple of me. When I downloaded the pictures to my computer, they all looked fine. Except one. Strangely, the photo I took of DH was totally BLACK/BLANK. I have no idea what to make of that, because when I glanced at the pix monitor on the camera after I took the picture, it seemed fine. Call me stupidstitious...but these weird episodes with digital cameras creep me out at times.

Here's one of the pictures I took Sunday afternoon:

Sailboats docked at Guntersville Lakeside facility

Cloudy, cold day...

An appropriate photo to depict the dismal day here, although we've had no rain.

DH went horse trail riding with friends in the nearby national forest today, so I'm glad rain has not arrived. And it's cold, in the 40s, a light wind from time to time. The picture was taken earlier, just a bare tree in my backyard.

I went grocery shopping, which I hate with a passion. Yet someone has to do it. At least I won't have to do that again for a week or so; and the food store is very close, takes no more than five minutes to get there. Ah, but doing the actual shopping, THAT does take time.

Last night we watched a great documentary: Super Size Me. I highly recommend it, if you have ANY doubts whatsoever that fast food is harmful to your health. There's comic moments as well, but with a very serious message: fast food can kill you, if you eat it often -- even for a short time! I am sure it contributed to DH's heart attack, along with stress.

One of these days soon, I'm going to try dieting again. Or at least cutting calories, eating less than I do now. We eat healthy, rarely any kind of meat, lots of veggie/soy products and fresh salads, etc, but still can't resist sweets occasionally. I have never had a true ravenous sweet tooth, but will indulge sometimes. I'm still exercising daily, mostly with the airbike, and my weight stays between 105-107, but I'd prefer to get below 100 again. Still, I guess I can't complain...since I seem healthy (and got rid of that darn cold, managing to keep my sinus problems under control too).

Not much else to write about today. Since I have some time alone, I plan to either write or surf the web for awhile.