It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon

On this beautiful afternoon, and I’m reluctantly watching golf. I am not a golf fan, but Corey Conners, a kid from my hometown (his grandpa was my family doctor!) is playing at the Masters and doing well!

It is about 10C outside, and 17 inside. I like to get one good fire going every day, warm enough so I can open the door but not cool off. Jeff is out of the house today teaching a firearms course. Hank is sitting on our bed looking out the window and up the street. Sally is curled up in my desk chair, snoozing away.

I’m trying to get that fire going I just mentioned, but it is struggling. The wood was a bit wet and because I had to travel through a treacherous obstacle course to get the wood from the wood pile, I’m using it regardless.

What’s this obstacle course I mention? Well Jeff ripped out our deck so he can get a jump on building a new one before our new hot tub is delivered next month! The bottom of the pit is super icy, so getting to and from the house is anything but easy. Thankfully he knocked together some temporary stairs!

It is a bit like a glacier in this north corner of the house. The water slowly is draining off the hill behind us, and freezes solid every night. That blue shovel was leaning upside down against the railing of the old deck, and now the handle is frozen into a glacier of ice so we can’t even move it out of the way!

This was the best week I’ve had in… almost a year probably! I returned to work on Monday, just half time to get started. On the first day, just concentrating for an hour, not even on anything critical or important, completely mentally exhausted me. I worked a couple hours and then rested before returning for a couple more hours.

Tuesday I started to force myself to get into the project I’ve been assigned. By Wednesday I was feeling like my old self and had a hard time pulling myself away after just 4 hours. By Friday I wanted to just jump right back into all the tough stuff, but forced myself to walk away after 4 hours instead.

I’m feeling good. My head is clear. I don’t feel foggy anymore. I’m only light headed if I jump from a lying position to standing, or bend over too long. However my joints are not happy. My hips are so sore I can’t cross my legs, or even rest one ankle on the other knee. Sitting isn’t comfortable. I’m also feeling it in my toe joint, my knees, and my wrists. I consulted Dr. Google and found out this is a common side effect from one of the cancer drugs I was on. Hopefully that means it is temporary so I’ll muscle through it!