Obstacles and Setbacks (A Masters Handknit post)

Swatch 14

I knew they were fragile.
I knew they didn't handle big changes in temperature and weather.
I knew they were old.
I knew hauling them around in the trunk was a bad idea.

But.....

There was so much else on my plate.

 

 

I think the knitting fairies are trying to tell me something. 

So....I'll just keep telling myself it's the process, not the destination.  In the mean time I have bought another pair of needles and will start this little dance of yarn and frustration from the top.  Never being anywhere for more than 3-4 days without having to travel again makes "best work" just that much harder - I'm currently settling for " Wow, I actually knitted a whole row" before having to attend to something or someone.  I'm all about brainless or simple knitting at the moment. 

 

Okay, I'm through whining.

 

Oddly, I think the frustration and setbacks are actually making me a better knitter in many ways - go figure.

 

 

Be careful of What You Ask For

Sonora, CA  So small they don't even have a travel poster
 

I realize that I haven't posted in some time.  I was caught up in a wild flurry of social engagements and activities.  Okay, it was wild based on my standards - Fiber conferences, workshops, festivals, and a couple of horse shows thrown in for good measure.  I was just thinking that I really needed to get back to this blog when my life took a hard left.

I had been boring my friends with my dream of downsizing, learning to live light.  I had read of a couple who had sold everything and were now "Senior Gypsys" traveling the world. I had dreams of buying a small airstream and faux painting it to look like a vardo wagon.  

Then I decided that I would just have vinyl copies of vintage posters made of every place I traveled and then have them slapped on the side like some old suitcase. 

I think the universe got tired of my waxing poetic and decided to grant my wish, sort of.

I have been spending a lot of time at my Dad's house this last year.  I have seen a decline in memory function and there were a couple of times this last month when I called him in the morning and his speech was a little blurry.  He has had a couple of strokes in the past and I suspect  he is continuing to have some small TIA or stroke activity.  So I am down for a visit on the 11th of this month when he calls to me the next morning that he has been bleeding rectally most of the night.  So one ambulance ride later and then a transfer to a large regional medical center 3 hours away, 11 days in the hospital with some of the worse nursing care I have ever seen (and I've been in a lot of hospitals both for personal and professional reasons), 6 blood transfusions, 5 major tests of the invasive sort, some family drama courtesy of my sister that would rival anything on a Jerry Springer show and I am now trying to figure out a care plan for Dad that will allow him to stay in his home as much as possible.  He was discharged on Thanksgiving Day mostly because he had stopped bleeding and they couldn't figure out where he was bleeding from in the first place.  We had declined the offer to take out his entire bowel, so.....time to go home with no guarantee it wouldn't happen again.  He does have severe diverticuli.

It is clear that he can no longer drive, at least clear to me, but he is still coming to terms with it. The two accidents on his own country driveway in the three weeks before hospitalization dictate that.   He doesn't take his medications correctly, and bills for the first time haven't been paid, and his memory has clearly declined by a healthy notch.  This last piece is typical of elders with a hospitalization and I would expect some improvement over time.  But clearly he needs help.

Up until this last month, he has done well living independently.  Given that I spent the last part of my career assessing exactly these kinds of issues for families I realized it was just a matter of time before living independently wasn't an option - that time has come.  So now my girls and I are slapping a care plan together that will provide Dad with the ability to live in his home for as long as possible.  fortunately Dad took care of the details and I have the Power of Attorney for Health and Finance which will make organizing this easier.

So I am now a bit of gypsy and caregiver.  Yep, the universe sure does have a sense of humor.

And The Darwin Award Goes To......

For those of you who may have read my Life With Nana Blog, you will know that she had a form of seizure and in my excitement of getting her to the emergency vet I left a pot of boiling chicken on the stove.  Now I can tell you with complete certainty that chicken will not boil for the 2.5 hours you are gone at the vet.  In fact it will create what is called a protein fire and fill your small condo with grey smoke that will rival the famous London Fogs.  This is not, I repeat not a good thing.

I knew the instant I drove up and could smell the acrid flavor of burning metal what I had done.  Opening the door, turning off the stove, taking the pot outside and opening every window and exhaust fan I had was only the beginning.  I even had a nice chat with the fire department who were called by my neighbors when the smoke began to billow out the front door and contaminate the entire neighborhood.  A couple of hours later Nana and I were able to get in the condo and I was especially grateful that I hadn't tried to boil chicken in a Teflon pan.  In spite of my best efforts, both the newt and the cat survived.  The cat who enjoys living under the bed had stayed there and had probably the best air quality available through the ordeal.  The newt is an immortal and is going on 16 years.  Someone told me they only live 4 years, but my oldest daughter got it when she was 10 or 11 years old and is now 27.  She moved out, newt stayed with me and will live forever.

Protein fires are acrid, they spew and embed every wall, carpet, and piece of clothing you own with a vile smell.  It doesn't go away.  Waking up the next morning with a headache and nausea I called the Insurance Co.  "Hi, I left a pot on the stove and it really stinks in here.  Is that Covered?"  Sounds stupid, but it is no laughing matter. The Insurance will cover.   The Fire/Smoke experts came out and issued the opinion that I needed to move out.  "This is the worst protein fire incident I've ever seen."  They brought an air scrubber which has been running every since.  Hey, you have to be special to leave a pot on fire for three hours and not notice.  The soft goods people showed up. These are the people that scoop up all your clothes, bedding, curtains, purses, shoes and stuffed animals and have them laundered, dry cleaned or O-zoned.  They said:  "This is the worst protein fire incident I've ever smelled".  Ah yea.....I've heard that before. 

It is a little weird to know that all of your clothes are being inventoried piece by piece on a computer as they get ready to clean them.  One thong, one moth eaten cashmere sweater, you get the picture. I discovered things I didn't know I had, or forgot I had.  I cleaned out the pockets of the jackets in the hall closet and got 2 pairs of glasses, 3 lipsticks, a couple of dollars, lots of dog and horse cookies and enough spare change to do several loads of laundry.  It just feels odd having someone go through every piece of clothing you own, feels far more intimate than it should - a sort of personality strip search that is forced on you. They will return a small portion of "rush" cleaning and the rest I will get back in 3 weeks.  It took five hours of sorting into different bags labeled wash, dry clean or O-zone to get my soft goods into the back of the truck.  In addition, I have yarn, lots and lots of yarn, roving, hand spun, cones of wool, etc.  All loaded and headed to be O-zoned to remove the contamination.  I have a "rush" order on 7 balls of yarn to be delivered on Thursday.  Why you ask, because it is the yarn that needs to go out to the test knitters for a hat I just submitted to KnitPicks for consideration in their Independent Designer Program.  I even have a project on needles in a plastic project bag that is headed to the O-zone chamber.  I am going to have a heck of an organizational task when it all comes back.

The structural clean up crew will be here on Monday to begin work.  It is one heck of a way to do a pre-winter cleaning.  But when this is done, I will have clean air, clean walls, carpets, floors, clothes, bedding, painted ceilings, clean ducts, and an ongoing sense of gratitude.  It could have been so much worse.

As for my smoke alarm - gosh it doesn't work.  It is the hardwired kind, no batteries required.  That is also on the list of things to change immediately.

As for Nana and her seizure/tremors they continue, but I'm working on that.

Got Insurance? Meaning the Helicopter Kind. (Horse Post)

Many of us engage in high risk sports.  They may not seem high risk, like when you are just riding around the bottom pasture at the barn with friends after a hard lesson.  I mean really, how risky is that, especially if you are on a seasoned trail horse that does trail trials, camped in the high country, and logged all kinds of miles in unknown territory without a problem.  Well, about a month ago a friend of mine was doing exactly that, just riding around the bottom of the pasture, last in line. No one knows how exactly, because no one actually saw what happened.  She was right behind her husband, the first clue something was wrong was when her horse came bolting past the group, sans rider. Then it was circus time,  L. was down and needed some serious help.  She had broken her collar bone in three places, fractured some ribs and had a concussion. The pasture is a sloping hill and it had been raining.  911 is called and the first responders came pouring in.  After the fire truck slid and the ambulance ended in the ditch it was time to call the helicopter.  Did I mention that the first responder that did make it to the bottom of the pasture put the neck brace on backwards.  Things were not looking good.  Thank goodness the helicopter peeps knew what they were doing.  They landed the bird at the bottom of the pasture, but L. still had to be transported on a backboard (the neck brace finally having been put on correctly, which only took three tries) across the bottom of the pasture to where the helicopter waited.  This was done with the 4 wheel drive "Mule" that had been loaded with hay to feed and now carried a body on a backboard with some 10 people holding on to keep it from sliding off the hay bales while the Mule was slowly driven across the wet, boggy ground of the pasture.

L spend a couple of days in the hospital and then had a complication of a blood clot which extended from her elbow to her shoulder.  More hospital time.  She is on blood thinners for the next six months, the collar bone is healing, but might need surgery which can't be done until after the blood thinners have done their work on the clot.  It might need to be broken and reset. 

As my friend Pat B. has said: "If you are going to ride a horse it isn't a matter of if you are going to get hurt, but when and how bad".

And the price of the Helicopter ride?  $30,000.00.  That's right, 30k.  My insurance only pays $1,000.00 towards helicopter rides.  But for about $40.00 a year you can get Helicopter insurance - seems like a good idea to me, especially for those of us who engage in high risk, back country activities.

And the ponies, well they are up for sale.  The blood clot was the deal breaker, she was waffling about continuing to ride after the fall, but the blood clot sealed it.  She and her husband are hanging up their spurs for less exciting pursuits, though she says it has been a great six years.

Me, I'll be getting helicopter insurance. This isn't the first time that they have visited the barn and I really don't want to spend that kind of money on air fare, I would rather spend it on braces for my dog. Seriously.