He's of the colour of the nutmeg. And of the heat of the ginger.... he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him; he is indeed a horse, and all other jades you may call beasts. ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

Saturday, January 09, 2010

FROST BITE SUCKS

Tractors are very useful. You can plant and harvest crops with them, push snow out of your yard, level out dirt, use it to get almost any vehicle unstuck, and move hay. I don't own a tractor. This is something I should seriously invest in if I am going to keep my horses. I have to use a pitchfork and toss hay into the hay ring twice a day so that my horses have something to eat. I don't mind doing this at all. It gives me something constructive to do, along with a great upper body workout, and if the hay isn't frozen together from snow and ice it doesn't take very long to accomplish.

On the extremely cold, very windy, -30 windshield temperatures the day before yesterday I was outside feeding my horses. I had on my new Itasca works book, my new work jacket, a stocking cap, and a really thick pair of gloves (all of this except for the gloves were purchased with my TSC gift card I got for Christmas.) To say it was cold was a major understatement. As I was pitching hay I could feel the wind go right through my jacket and gloves like I was bearing skin on a hot July day. I came back into the house to warm up and caught a look of my face in the mirror. The reflected image looked just like what a person expected to see. A bright red face with water at the corners of my eyes from the wind blowing into them. However, my nose did not resemble the rest of my face. Along the right side of my nose was a white area that went from the front of the nostril, over the tip of my nose, and ran half way up the right side of the nose. It wasn't a pale skin color, nor did it match the tan carpet of my living room floor, it was white as pure driven snow. I had frost bite.

I let my nose warm up naturally while I was gawking at it. I couldn't believe it. I had spent many winter days in my younger childhood snowmobiling, making forts, sledding, even riding and not once had I developed frost bite anywhere. I was praying to God that the white area would not turn black. Missing half of my nose was not an attractive thought. After a very long while the white patch faded and was replaced by a very red area that resembled a bad sun burn. It started to get some sensation back and I was overcome with relief. The change in color and the fact that I was starting to feel something let me know that blood flow had finally started to return to the right side of my nose.

The pain in my nose is odd. It burns like a sunburn to the fourth power, there is also still a tingling numbness amongst the sunburn like my nose has fallen asleep, and it also itches....BAD! As much as I really want to, I know better than to even attempt scratching it. It's excruciating to even gently rub my nose against one of my fingers and yawning is a whole new level of pain. If you don't believe me, try yawning right now and pay attention to how your nose moves and scrunches up. The right side of my nose will always be sensitive now. On chilly days I will have to pay attention and make sure my nose is well covered because it will be prone to frost bite. I used to think scarfs were stupid. I believed that they were just some fashion item that a lot of people bought into. I learned my lesson. Scarfs are not stupid and they actually hold a good purpose. I am going to wear a scarf every time I go out, especially when I am feeding the horses.

My nose will be okay, it's just going to take a little time for the redness to go away. I think that it should be gone in time for me to attend Dougapalooza with minimal harassment from my friends. However, it is Doug's birthday, and I think that will take all focus off my nose....well, it should anyway, for we will be celebrating Doug!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

VACUUM

In my last post, I forgot to mention the best Christmas present that I received this year; A Dirt Devil Vision Cyclone vacuum. I needed a new vacuum for a really long time. The other vacuum I had was second hand. It worked fairly decent, but only for a little while. In the end, it wouldn't pick up a damn thing.

I am totally in awe of this new machine. I think I am the only person who gets excited to break out their vacuum and start cleaning the carpets. It's the Monica Lewinsky of vacuums. I was vacuuming my bedroom yesterday, and a sock had eluded me by hiding under the bed. This wasn't a standard every day sock. It was one of my heavy duty, 1/2 inch thick, what I wear when I am outside doing chores socks. I was vacuuming around the bed and just barely brushed the tip of the sock, and before I could finish thinking "oh shit", the vacuum sucked the entire sock up in .06 seconds. I immediately turned off the vacuum, got out my screwdriver, and opened the guard on the bottom of the vacuum. The sock was wrapped around the brush pretty good, but I was able to get it out with minimal effort. I replaced the guard and turned it back on. The vacuum still worked amazingly after eating the sock. In my opinion, if a vacuum is going to completely suck up a huge sock like that and still work, it's worth it's weight in gold. I was really impressed.

Friday, January 01, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I, like everyone else in the Midwest, started the Christmas holiday out by being lucky enough to attend the worst Christmas Blizzard Ever 2009. My brother made it my parents place before the awful weather hit. My poor sister did not make it to Leeds until the day after Christmas. She ended up spending Christmas Eve in a suburb of Minneapolis, and then had to stop in Fargo on Christmas Day. We didn't open presents or anything until she made it home okay. For Christmas, I received an RCC gift card from Mike, a TSC gift card, a really cool Farm Girl shirt and a pair of socks from my dad, a new Stephen King book, a music CD, and a baking dish that now replaced the Pampered Chef dish that my girls broke way back when.

It was nice to have our family together for a little while. That doesn't happen often, and when it does, we have things going on and we are all in a rush to be doing something. It was nice to sit and just enjoy the company. Even if I had wanted to go home at some point with the girls, there was no way I couldn't. My yard and driveway fills in really bad when it's snowing and blowing. My place was completely blocked, and had to be cleaned out before I could even think of getting home. The first decent day after the storm, my dad went to my place and cleaned out the yard for me.

I hope everyone had fun ringing in the New Year. I stayed home with the girls and we watched movies. After the girls were in bed, I laid down in bed and started reading my Stephen King book; Under The Dome. It's a 1,000+ page book....and I read 648 pages. I must say, it's a really good book. I will probably finish it up by tomorrow. I was thinking of going to the Community Center in Leeds to the annual New Years Eve supper that the local bar hosts, but it was cold and I didn't want to drag the girls out in the weather. Besides, the three of us had a great time hanging out together and you cannot beat moments like those.
 


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