April 26-May 2, 2020 Migraine Extremes, Hard Week, Nemesis, Hiking With Henry

April 26-May 2, 2020 

Migraine Extremes, Hard Week, Nemesis, Hiking With Henry

Hello Friends!

I think we all had a hard week at our house.  We were all a little out of sorts and struggling.

Migraines:

Well, this was one of the hardest migraines weeks I've had in a long time.  Luckily, it ended on Friday, but that was the end of a MONTH long migraine!!!  I went on the Prednisone and that did help, but when I went off it I ended up getting a massive extreme migraine on Thursday that words can't convey the agony I was in.  I emailed my doctor and she prescribed another new med to try, but I figured I'd had enough weird chemicals in my body this week and decided to save it.  It was the right choice because things did settle down after the massive migraine finale on Thursday.

Botox:

This week was my botox shots, for migraine prevention.  I only wish it helped my migraines more, but I don't have many options for help.  The doctor gives me like thirty shots throughout my scalp, neck, temple, and forehead.  The shots really hurt, but it only takes a few minutes and it's over.




Bible Studies:
I think I have forgotten to mention my Bible studies for the past few weeks! Thrive: The one I do at the church I attend continues to be fantastic.  I'm getting used to meeting on Zoom.  This week instead of just meeting with the six women in my group the whole women's group all got together on Zoom!  I don't know how many women were there--sixty or so?  It was definitely a learning experience to be separated into little groups and then back with the big group online.  This wrapped up our official term and a few of us are going to continue to meet each week and discuss the Proverbs until our summer session starts June 1st.  I'm glad and thankful for the friendship and fellowship with these ladies; especially when I'm home alone most days.



BSF: The other Bible study, BSF, I decided to drop out for the last three classes.  I just felt awkward trying to do that one on Zoom and just decided I could print out the worksheets and do them over the summer on my own.  



FaceTime Heather:
Thankful for another chat with Heather this week, although I had a migraine and the conversation was a bit of a blur.  So thankful for a kindred spirit that knows my heart.




Garden:

See the green chives that came back from last year?!

The seedlings are coming up and doing really well.  





Some of my most numerous memories of my deceased father were of him watering the plants in our backyard in Florida.

This is the area that I had planted blackberry plants in before I found their permanent home, and now each spring I have to pull up thirty new sprouts!  I am going to work really hard on keeping them out of this area this year. 

  I guess, like him, I really love watering! 



 Isn't that a funny thing to enjoy?!  But, I do! 



 I was back in my element watering once again this week!  Yay, spring!

Chainsawing, Pruning, and Burning:

This week we have continued to clean up the small weed trees and vines.  We've been burning them along with some of the piles of brush that keep getting higher and higher!  Dh got creative and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows one of our yard days; which was a lot of fun!  We have been burning in four different pits this spring.  One day we had two fires going at the same time; which took some effort to keep going but we really burnt a lot of our piles and made progress.  





Fire Pits:
The picture above is a tree stump that we've been burning, slowly but surely.  So far, every year we try to cut it down and new shoots keep trying endlessly.  We are hoping this year it might not cause as much trouble.



Clearing:
I've been clearing this area of the driveway, see above picture.  I've been pulling up thorny vines and lots poison ivy.  I also used my chainsaw to cut a lot of weird scrub trees too.

Mowing and Yard Work:

I'm back to mowing!  I have a lot of mowing and a trusty pushmower to see me through!  The previous owners had left two half-used bags of fertilizer that I've struggled with what to do with.  Since I'm only letting the chickens out when they are in their tractors I figured I could use the fertilizer up in the front yard -- uphill and very separate from the area where the tractors are.  I'm glad to be done with it and it's not sitting in our barn any longer.  I didn't feel comfortable throwing it in the trash to go to a landfill either.  I'm relieved it's gone.  

I moved the two Hydrangea plants from the pool area to up here in front of the house where I can water it more often.  I moved them last fall and am so delighted they both are doing well and I see new leaves! 

Transplanting:

new home for coneflowers 

Last year I transplanted some plants around hoping I'd found suitable new homes, but by the middle of summer, the Hostas were being burnt to a crisp in too-sunny locations! 



 I had to wait until spring to relocate and started switching things up this week.  

New home to more hostas

I moved some Coneflowers and Black-Eyed Susans to the sunny/sandy beds and moved the Hostas to the shady spots. I had a few other relocations by the pool---some Daisies and Iris's had escaped outside the fence, so I dug them up and put them back inside where they belong!

Hiking With Henry:

Henry!

Most days I was fortunate enough to take Henry out to the woods for a lovely walk in the big woods.  Hiking in the woods makes me so very, very happy.  In each season I find so much beauty and am so glad I have a dog that demands long walks and fusses until I take him out!  



Chickens:
A good week for the chickens.  













Sleeping:
Dd and I are like so many other people that are having trouble sleeping during this pandemic.  Since I started the Prednisone for my migraines my sleeping went from bad to worse.  Dd is not only having trouble sleeping through the night she is also having nightmares.  

Dd's Progress For the Week:

Dd is working on her last weeks of classes for her Grace Co-op and Algebra II tutoring.  



We finished the Read Aloud (Nemesis by Agatha Christie).  She has not been sleeping well and is struggling with anxiety.  She does her lessons during the day and then spends her evenings and weekends with her boyfriend.  This week she was really wrestling with the decision to go back to work or not.  She really misses seeing her friends.



Bible, Church, and Devotions:
Dd is doing well with her devotions.  She watches the church service online with Seth every Sunday.  She also likes the online noon services each day.



Math:
Algebra II with a tutor (Saxon)




Grace Co-op:
Writing: IEW: Analytical and Research Papers
2 1/2 hours plus online class.  She is working really hard on her final paper.



Science: Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia): 2 1/2 hours and online class



Foreign Language: German: DuoLingo: 1 hour



Art: Drawing: 1 hour



Read Aloud: 
Nemesis by Agatha Christie: COMPLETED
.............

April 19-25, 2020 Garden, Nemesis, Migraines, Cards for Laura

April 19-25, 2020 

Garden, Nemesis, Migraines, Cards for Laura

My buddy, Henry!  

Hello Friends!

Henry actually dislikes having his picture taken; he always turns his head and looks the side or behind him!  It is kinda funny and kinda frustrating!!!

Can you believe it snowed a few days this week!  It was a beautiful and peaceful slow snow with little accumulation that didn't stay on the ground for long.  We also had hail in the mix!  Spring in Michigan is always a toss-up.  The planting I did last week started coming up this week.  I was so happy to see the new growth and hope for a good harvest this year.

Migraines and Headaches:

I'm still stuck in a major migraine cluster that I can't seem to break out of, but I did have three days off from the pain until it really hit hard on Saturday.  I've been trying the new medication, Nurtec, that my doctor prescribed and it does in fact help.  She also suggested I take the steroid, Prednisone, if I couldn't break out of a cluster and I did start that on Saturday.  I will have to take that for a few days, which will hopefully take down the inflammation in my body.  I had a headache Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Then on Saturday a massive migraine started.  I'm looking forward to next week when I'm scheduled for my Botox shots; that always seems to decrease the severity and frequency of my migraines...a little.

Lettuce is coming up very well!  I think every seed sprouted!  I wish the spinach was as successful!  

Kale is coming up in the island bed.

Winter/Summer Clothes Switch:

Since I wasn't feeling very strong on Tuesday and Wednesday, I decided this would be a good time to go through my clothes and pull out my winter clothes.  I brought down my summer clothes boxes from the attic and picked out some of those to add for this summer.  Dh thought I was a little crazy for packing up my winter clothes while it was snowing outside!  He had a point, but I know the warmer weather will be here soon!  I sure did make a huge mess, but managed to get things back to normal by the end of the second day.

Pool Evergreen Bushes Continued:

Dd had helped chainsaw down many branches from the evergreen bushes in front of our pool, but I still had a lot of burning to do to get rid of some of them. I felt pretty good on Monday, so I worked outside pulling vines and scrub trees while I kept a small fire going with the piles of branches I'd been making.  We have a lot of thorny vines around our property and each spring I desperately try to pull up as many as I can while they are just waking up.  By around June they are much more difficult to yank up for some reason, so right now is the prime time for this kind of work.  The same could be said for the grape and poison ivy vines.  I'm very careful to burn the grape vines and never the poison ivy -- the smoke from poison ivy can cause major problems in your lungs so you should never burn that!!!  

Hiking With Henry:

Another great week of hiking in the backwoods with Henry.  He loves being out in the woods as much as I do!  I'm so thankful for our time enjoying nature together.

Chickens:

I'm using the chicken tractors and picking grass and dandelions for them.  Fresh greens is important for their health, so I make a lot of effort to help them get as healthy a diet as I can.  They are all doing okay this week.

Bleeding Heart Plant--I've put compost around the plant this year to hopefully improve its longevity.  For some reason it never seems to have enough water during the summer and dries-up.  I'm hoping with compost around its base it may do better???  Can't hurt!

We are finally enjoying spring flowers a-plenty!

Laura's Birthday Cards:

Heather, my friend in Indiana, was planning her Dd's 10th birthday party for next week and asked us to mail Laura a few cards to help her with her idea of a nod to Harry Potter's Hogwarts letters.  I looked up the font and image of Harry's cards and tried to resemble those; with the line, "cabinet under the stairs" as a finishing touch!  I think I sent out seven cards and Dd did one.  There is always something special about turning "10," the big double-digit birthday!

Dd and Seth:

This week Dd cooked her pork butt in her birthday gift--the Instant Pot.  The pork did taste fantastic!  She also made two Pumpkin Rolls; one for our house and one for her boyfriend.  I'm glad he likes them because then I get a roll too!!! Her boyfriend, Seth, came over again on Friday.  I had made dinner and we watched Malcolm in the Middle together.  It was a nice time.  It is hard to believe they have been dating six months now.  As each month goes by we see her less and less.  This is one stage I didn't see coming and am probably not enforcing enough boundaries; I admit I am at a loss!!!  I guess I was bound to find a time when my parenting skills were not up to the task and this is that time.  She is only allowed to be with Seth when they have a third person with them and I can only hope that she is honoring my rules.  As always, it is in the Lord's hands.

The downfall of having a dog is they pee in your yard and kill your grass!  It is such a shame!  But, there you have it.

The spinach is coming right in!!!  Yay!

Work: Pizza Shop:
Dd is trying to decide if she should go back to work at the pizza shop... I know she misses her friends, but most people are truly missing out on that right now.  She is debating and weighing her decision.

Asparagus is already popping up!

When we first moved here I transplanted some Indiana Blackberry plants in this black soil area and now they keep coming up even though I dug them all up and moved them to a new area.  This week I, once again, pulled up every plant and hope to keep the vines out of this garden!  

Henry is doing really well at staying by me when I'm gardening.

Read Aloud:

Dd and I are enjoying our latest RA; Nemesis by Agatha Christie!  I love reading to her and enjoy discussing the books with her.  

Dd's Progress This Week:

With the continuing 'lock-down' Dd continues to have her classes online here at home.  

Bible and Devotions:

Our church has the sermons live on-air on Sunday and noon prayer services each day.  She is working on Proverbs currently.

The peonies are coming in!  I had to move one plant this week to better space the peonies; we have nine peonies the appreciate.

Grace Co-Op Classes:

Writing: Analytical Writing for Essays and Research Papers (IEW) 

These green chives survived the winter!

Science: Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia) (3:30 hrs)

Last year I tried hostas in these beds and found it to be a poor choice.  These beds get full sun and the soil is very sandy.  I'm transplanting Coneflowers and Black-eyed Susan's into the bed and removing the hostas for a wetter, shadier bed where the hostas will thrive.

Art: Drawing at home

Here is the hostas that I removed from the too-sunny bed.  I think they will be happier here.

Foreign Language: German through DuoLingo (6 sessions)

Physical Exercise: 3:00 hours this week

Math: Algebra II (Saxon) with tutor

Literature: RA: Nemesis by Agatha Christie

...................