Dealing with carpal tunnel surgery

I went to the family doctor back in December and told him my right arm & elbow were really bothering me.  Pain in my elbow, traveling up to my elbow.  He referred me to the same orthopedic surgeon I had seen 2 years ago, Dr. Varela, in Mountain View.

Two years ago my right hand and elbow were hurting.  Tennis elbow was the diagnosis.  After several cortisone shots, I had outpatient surgery to relieve the pressure on my nerve.  That surgery wasn't too bad.  A week in a surgical wrapping, a few months wearing a splint... and all was well.

But now my elbow has been hurting on the other side.  We arrived at the office on 28th.  Dr. Varela listened to my complaint... Poked my elbow and had me squeeze his fingers.  He had one of his staff come in and do a nerve conductivity test.  Just what I love... having someone shock my arm over and over until I almost jump out of my chair.... He came back in and told me I have both carpal tunnel syndrome and nerve compression of my ulnar nerve.  What did I want to do?  "I want to be able to garden and knit without pain".  And when did I want to do this?  "As soon as possible".  Can we come tomorrow?  "You bet"!

So now I have a surgical wrapping on my right arm.  And some pain pills.  I spent the first 3 days stationed in my chair, arm elevated, watch the boob tube all day.  Oh, fun, fun... I could at least move my arm around the next few days.  Not using my hand, but I could atleast move around.  We went out to lunch.  Eating in public with my "off" hand and Parkinson's disease was an adventure.  But I managed. 

Joshua has been caring for my birds.  John or Josh have been cooking.  I need help with buttons, barettes, tights, bra... I feel like a 4 year old!

I took care of the birds today.  And my fingers are now swollen and burning.  Cripes!  Back into the house and take half a pain pill... and type this rant one handed.

I go back to see Dr. Varela on Monday to get the surgical dressing off and the stapes out.  I understand I will be wearing a splint for several weeks/months to come. 

OK.  Enough gripping.

The hellebores are blooming.  Don't they look nice?

Game camera photos

My husband handed me a disc yesterday and asked me to post some of his game trail camera photos.  So, here they are!

This big buck has been hanging around our east property line since October.  He was still there a few days ago. 

Dang, it's been cold

Cold, wintry weather made a brief stop by earlier this week.  The mercury dipped down to 15F several nights in a row.  We even had snow.  That's very odd for Arkansas!

Today, it's a bit warmer.  It's 39F right now and we're supposed to have rain most of the day with a high of 45.  Cold and dreary weather.  A good day to stay in, bake some bread and make a pot of soup.  Potato soup, I think.  Yeah.  That sounds good.  I have a new bread recipe to try, Peasant bread.  It rises faster than the sourdough I've been making....

Potato Soup

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until done. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease.
2. Cook celery and onion in reserved bacon drippings until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add cubed potatoes, and toss to coat. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Return bacon to the pan, and add enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes. Cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender.
3. In a separate pan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream, tarragon, and cilantro. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir the cream mixture into the potato mixture. Puree about 1/2 the soup, and return to the pan. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Peasant bread

Yield: 8 servings
 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
All-purpose flour, for dusting

Directions

Combine the bread flour, whole-wheat flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F) and mix with your hands or a spoon until the dough comes together (it will be wet and sticky).  ( If you have extra time, refrigerate 12 to 24 hours; this is not necessary but will improve the flavor of the bread).

Let the dough rise, covered, at room temperature for about 3 hours; this rise is necessary whether you refrigerate the dough first or not. The surface will be bubbly after rising.

Generously dust a work surface with all-purpose flour. Turn the dough out onto the flour, then sprinkle flour on top. Fold the top and bottom of the dough into the center, then fold in the sides to make a free-form square. Use a dough scraper or a spatula to turn the dough over, then tuck the corners under to form a ball.  Generously dust with flour. Cover with a cotton kitchen towel (do not use terry cloth) and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 2 to 3 hours.

Position a rack in the bottom of the oven and place a 2- or 4-quart cast-iron or enameled Dutch oven (without the lid) on the rack. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F for at least 30 minutes. When the dough has doubled, carefully transfer the hot pot to a heatproof surface. Uncover the dough, quickly invert the dough into the pot (shake the pot to center the dough, if necessary). Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until brown and crusty, 15 to 30 more minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
 

Courtesy of Food Network Magazine

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/no-knead-peasant-bread-recipe.html?oc=linkback

I've started on my charity knitting for this year.  I have 20 hats done.  I'm working on a baby blanket too, but I don't like how it's coming out so I think I'll unravel it and start again.  I think I'll do a mosaic type blanket with it.  Yeah.  That will make a good blanket for the bright colors in this yarn.

The weather is turning colder

We've been having rain and wind the past few days.  It's really Autumn now.  I took Cricket for a long walk this morning, and we really needed to wear a coat.  That's a change for sure.

Our garden is done and looking rather sad.  We talked about turning it under... but with the rain and wind that's not happening now.  Too wet.

I'll have to bring my plants in for the winter soon.

Josh has been grouting the tile in his new bedroom and the mud room.  Then he and John will get the molding up.  And the freezer needs to be moved into the mudroom... set up the shelves... get it ready for winter.

We'll need to get some wood cut and stacked too.  We have our propane tanks full already and have "pre-bought" for the coming year.  That's a load off my mind.

We have our bulk food purchases all sealed in jars, stored in the "root cellar".  That feels good too.

Our friend with sheep a few ridges over gave me a few fleeces last week.  I really appreciate that!  Her fleeces are so nice.  She's so generous.  Thanks, Sue!

We're hoping to go to Parker Homestead this weekend.  We always have fun there.

Man, I have been remiss in my postings!

I haven't been posting very much lately.  I just haven't felt like I had anything to say....

Tammy and Rickie came to visit the last week of July.  We had fun!  One day we all piled into the farm truck and went down to the neighbor's creek.  Here's a few pictures from that day.

Tammy's fish was just bigger than her bait!

We also spent a day fishing on the Spring River.  That was alot of fun too.

We've been destroying an old addition on our house.  We're building a new addition to replace it.  Progress is good, so far.  First, the destruction....

And now for the construction!

This is one week's progress.

And here's week 2!

The addition will be our son's bedroom and a mudroom.  The ladder is standing in the closet area.  The boxes are in the mudroom area.

And 1 last picture to share... 1 day's harvest from our homestead.

Summer visit almost over....

So, today I realize Tammy will be coming in 8 days.  That's great!  I'm looking forward to seeing her and Ricky.  But, that also means that Ariel will only have 2 more weeks with us.  Bummer....

We haven't done as many outdoor activities as we did last year.  We went floating once with Gena, Karna, Beth, Rhonda and April.  That was fun!

Ariel has really been focusing on weaving this summer.  She's woven 2 dishtowels on Gena's loom and 1 on our table loom.  She's also warped our little inkle loom, and now she's weaving on the backstrap loom I got her as a little present.  She's loving it!

She's also learned a lot about baking and cooking this summer.  She really like baking cobbler and pot pie.  I admit, I like those too!  Yummy!

July is getting hot

The heat is building up.  The air conditioner is running full time now.  Yesterday it was 91.  Today it only got up to 88, because we had a thunderstorm and that lowered the temperature. 

I've been working on the garden, to get all those darn weeds pulled.  I want to be able to see what's growing.  We had so much rain we couldn't get out there and work.  Now, I'm pulling grass after it rains.  It's the only time it's cool enough.  And the ground is softer and the grass will come up.

I got all the vining plants cleaned up (squash, melons, zucchini), I'll get the tomatoes cleared up tomorrow.  We have melons blooming and a few fruits growing.  There are squash blooming too.  The tomatoes are putting on flowers.  The cucumbers are doing very well.  Josh has been bringing 2 - 5 in each morning.

Ariel and I have been doing a lot of baking.  Yesterday we made Red Velvet Cherry Whoopie pies.  Yummy!  I made a nice pork and rice casserole.  Today Ariel made beef pot pie for lunch.  That was yummy too.