What's happening? Part 3

[flatcap]

Wow! Great pic, houghcrst. Thanks for posting it.

[houghchrst]

You are most welcome. I thought it was quite beautiful. So many people take such beauty for granted.

[agate]

Absolutely stunning photo!!

Seeing something like that is mighty humbling.

[houghchrst]

I learned a couple days ago that if you get a few feet off of the sun that it is not hot. The light waves are transferred to heat when they hit us.

[flatcap]

This one's for you, houghcrst. I just stumbled across it today and thought you might like it.

[houghchrst]

Beautiful, gives me goosebumps. I have always admired and respected the ways of the true Americans. I am grateful that there are those around who can preserve their ways. Thank you!!

[houghchrst]

Hello everyone. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I just thought I would check in. Everything here is going lovely. Despite my pain I have been working in the yard for about two weeks. A bit here and a bit there. You have no idea how wonderful it was to get on my riding mower and have it start first try. That has not happened in....well a long time. Something always needed to be fixed. So I have been out mowing, whacking, burning brush. Gathering downed wood from around the yard. I pay for it in pain but I am willing to put up with the trade off. It's too good.

I started back to microdosing about two weeks ago. 50 mg, I was doing 30 but this 50 puts me just at subperceptual. Everything is amazing at this point. I don't dose every day, still 4 on and 3 off. Things are going great. I have learned to manage my stress. I don't dwell on the past anymore. If I think of the future I use Dr. Joe Dispenza's advice. Act every day as though your best future is happening now. Your body and brain don't know the difference. They still release feel-good chemicals throughout your body. Doing meditations still. Not everyday as I would like but getting there. Lots of Earthing for the inflammation. I hurt so bad Friday after working in the yard I went out and laid down in the grass. It was glorious. 15 minutes 3-4 times a day can really help with inflammation. That's scientifically proven also.

I ran out of my enzyme a couple weeks ago and my pain started climbing again so I am pretty sure it reached a point that it was helping. I am back on so hopefully it won't take as long to start working again. Have also been working on the catio. I have a hole in the screen door that Belladonna made while escaping last year that needs fixing but that is about it.

I have done more work this year than the last two to three years combined. I did get my meditation station out too. I will find a good pic. We have a couple crows that Brandon is interested in making friends with so I made a crow feeder and bought a decoy crow and put them out near my spot. Shelled peanuts, cut up fruit and boiled eggs for starters. Oh and he has a crow call lol.

I dug my old camera out. My phone camera just isn't the same. I used to walk the property in the mornings and take pics but my depression buried that in the closet. I have been keeping it with me while out working in the yard. We have such a variety of wildlife that I am hoping to get some good pics.

439921737_806711067582884_8365596957813440300_n.jpg This is my meditation station, a work in progress. When the tree starts to get it's leaves I will be in the shade. I sit out here and meditate while I am Earthing.

turkey.JPG Mr. Tom trying to impress his lady while she grazed alone.

DSCF9998.JPGYesterday's beautiful sunrise.

DSCF9992.JPG Mr. Crow watching out for Mrs. Crow while she eats.

DSCF9994.JPG

[agate]

Looks like a very serene and restful place to be, Chris. All of the fresh air and exercise has to be doing you a lot of good. Just being outdoors can be very restorative, I think.

[houghchrst]

The amount of wildlife this year is amazing, the raccoons stole my crow feeder so I am going to have to build a new one. My fault for leaving it on the ground with fruit and peanuts. The turkeys and bunnies are out every morning. The chipmunks are prolific and troublesome but they sure are cute. I do not ever remember there being so much wildlife all at one time. Geese honking on the pond, Blue Heron in the trees around the pond, hawks in the trees across the creek. Woodpeckers holed up in our dead tree. It's wonderful.

I had to give my spot a little more pizzazz, the critters won't leave my real flowers alone, they keep digging them up so I put up some bright fake flowers in my pot then put the others in the muddy spot so I don't accidentally get stuck in it again.




turkey.JPGDSCF0046.JPGchip.JPG

[jingle]

Gorgeous display!! Thanks.

[houghchrst]

thank you Jingle, good to see you!!

[agate]

Great photos, Chris! You must have fun keeping track of all of the animals you're in the midst of.

I've heard people say they've seen possums and coyotes around here where I am but I've seen only squirrels, raccoons, and once a snake. Stray cats on the prowl too.

The squirrels regularly get into the patio plants. Since I'm here most of the time, I can often get out there and undo their damage--the pots they turn over and partly empty out, the dug dirt they toss around, etc. Sometimes I rap on the window when I see one getting into a plant, and sometimes it just stares back at me instead of being chased away. Bold little critters.

[houghchrst]

Thank you Agate. It's nice to be back out with my camera. We have a terrible coyote problem here. I am in the township and in the middle of a large swath of wooded area that crosses the township to the rural areas. About three weeks ago we heard a pack of coyotes close, chasing something through the woods we thought and when they caught it there was silence. About a week and a half later I am going out back to the fence and there is a huge pile of fur. Deer fur it looks like. Everything was gone except the hair. They must have chased it across my backyard. We knew they sounded close. We just didn't know how close.

[agate]

Wonder how many coyotes it would take to bring down a deer? I think I'd have been feeling as if the coyotes were almost too close for comfort, Chris. I've heard that they--and raccoons too--will kill people's pets but didn't realize they could kill a deer.

[houghchrst]

If there are enough they can take down a female or a youngster. People's cats and small dogs are killed all the time. Especially the outdoor kitties. There had to have been at least four of them. Everyone knows watch out for the hawks and make sure your animals are in at night.

[agate]

A pet's life is dangerous if the pet goes outside. One cat of mine was probably destroyed by a pack of dogs, another was run over by a car. After those disasters I kept any pet cat indoors.

[houghchrst]

Hello all, thought it was time for a check in. Been a rough couple weeks. Klonopin withdrawal, which no one seems to care how dangerous it is. I missed my psych 15 min. window taking our Skyler outside. He's old and was losing his bowels so I rushed him outside and of course that is when the doc called me. They never sent me a link for a call connect so I thought he was running behind. Check my phone and see he had called an hour before. So they wouldn't let me talk to him, he refused to refill and I can't get in until October. Said to call my primary. She is in India until July. Because it is a controlled substance no one will refill it for me. I went to the ER and they gave me some drug that is supposed to help get through withdrawals for benzos and alcohol. I slept very little for over a week. ER doc noticed that my gabapentin was prescribed 600mg at night and 300 in morning. I had only been taking the 300 in the morning trying to titrate off. So changing it around and I am finally getting some sleep. In the meantime I ran out of Nortriptyline, one of the worst withdrawals of any of my meds. I had titrated down on that from 75 to 50. They keep filling the 75 even though I canceled it. So I am taking that every other day. As of now I have had two good nights of sleep with this switch around. The THC helps tremendously if I smoke a tad before sleep.

Last Thursday we had to have Skyler laid to rest. The poor guy was exhausted, hurting, blind, he would stand in a dark corner until someone came and got him. The only thing he enjoyed was food. He had no quality of life left. I felt terrible about it. He deserved so much better. 15 years old. The rescue who paid his vet bills while I had him was kind enough to pay for cremation. I pick up his ashes sometime this week. I have tremendous guilt wrapped up in that whole thing.

Besides that, everything is going well. I started the Stamet Stack a couple of weeks ago. I am hoping to get some good results. I have cut back on multiple meds that I am titrating off of. My primary doc has been informed that I am microdosing and have started the stack. She admitted that she is not trained in plant medicine but did take notes. My therapist also, she is always looking for new info to help her patients.

I talked with my brother about selling the house. Tried to get an estimate if he had any idea of worth but he didn't so suggested I call a realtor. Well that's a damn cost also. Told him my dream was to buy tiny and move up north. He surprisingly did not make fun of the idea. He offered to buy me out or to outright sell. I have two brothers that I don't speak to and they are on the deed so still trying to figure out how to do that. I love this place but it is a burden.

Hope everyone is well.

[agate]

Chris, that is so miserable that you've had problems just getting hold of medical providers when you need them. What's with these globe-trotting doctors? I've noticed how often my regular doctors are on leave, out of the country, not in the office several days a week, etc. I realize they're free to do their own thing but patients often would appreciate having someone who is there for them more consistently and be more accessible.

I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to Skyler. I can really understand the guilt about having to lose a pet. I haven't been able to bring myself to get another cat even though I've almost always had a cat in my life--just because losing one is so difficult. With the last two cats I've felt so absolutely helpless, watching them suffer and being unable to do much to help them. Someone with more mobility could have done a lot more. The poor animals are grateful for any caring at all, but that just makes it more heartbreaking.

About the house-sale idea: It's been about 40 years since I sold a house and so I probably don't know much at all but I have noticed that the major real-estate Websites (Zillow, Redfin, etc.) often list properties that aren't for sale and apparently haven't been up for sale in years, and yet a price is listed. I don't know how that price is arrived at unless some assessor has evaluated it. Might your property already be showing up on one of those Websites?

[clouds z]

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... on getting old

[houghchrst]

thank you Agate, I appreciate the sentiment. I totally forgot to pick up Skyler's ashes. Between withdrawals and getting covid again I have been sick for weeks. Still battling lung congestion from covid and it has been a bit over a week. All three of us had it at the same time. Brandon is over it but Jared still has some sinus and lung congestion also.

Well I made it through the klonopin withdrawals and am getting sleep without it so I am not going back on it. Actually it was the only thing that was keeping me from getting pain medications. Maybe I can get some help now. I discovered that there is what's called stress induced insomnia and I wonder if that is what was keeping me from getting good sleep. I am less stressed so now I am sleeping better without the meds. I still am taking the 600mg of gabapentin before bed so maybe that is helping.

I now have three cats that sleep in my room at night. Bella and Louise are good and behave. Chunk has decided that he wants to sleep in here so I have begun letting him. For some reason he feels the need to check on me the same time every morning. Between 4:30 and 5 a.m. he starts meowing. Telling him to shut up does not work LOL. I jiggle my water glass and he thinks I am going to get him wet so he stops. The last two mornings I tried to let him out because I thought maybe that's what he wanted. But no. I got up to open the door and he won't go out but when I got back in bed he shuts right up. Almost as if he wants to make sure I am okay. Same time every morning. I wondered this morning if that was the time I had my heart attack in 2017 and he knows something LOL. Animals always know more than we give them credit for. I have wondered many times if my state of mind is what is attracting all of the animals this year. So many.

Still doing all my stuff, the stack and microdosing. Mentally I feel fantastic, even my pain has lessened and my lower back which has hurt for decades has been behaving itself. It rarely hurts anymore and I think getting all of this exercise has been the reason.

I did see that Zillow often gives me an estimate for my house but I have no clue how accurate that is. Especially since it has been decades since someone looked at it for an estimate. They have no clue what the inside is like. Needs washing and repainting. I have plumbing that needs to be fixed and replaced and the electricity in one section of the basement needs to be fixed.

I have not been working on my basement decluttering because I have been outside working so much. On the rainy or super hot days I recover and do what I can in the house because in working on the yard there is stuff in the house that collects things and dirt so it's a trade off. Getting there though.

Clouds I watched your video, I actually have heard the term senior orphans. My minister is helping an orphanage in Uganda that has 83 orphan seniors and over 60 children orphans in their village. All care for the seniors. It's a shame that things are the way they are now when it comes to the elderly. I remember being a little girl and my grandparents had my grandfather's mother living with them. She was bedridden but they kept a bed out in the main part of the house and would bring her out so she could interact with everyone. Now everyone puts their parents in senior homes. It's sad.

Okay everyone, guess that's it for now. Just wanted to say hi. Hope you are all well.