Spring is a Ways Off

We woke up to heavy snow yesterday morning, which I didn’t remember seeing in the forecast. I made a quick trip into town after church to get a few things in case we’re stuck here until the middle of the week from the forecasted storm that is supposed to come in this evening. It was not snowing in town. Our fire department got paged out for a car accident up the road near Susan’s house; there is a tight curve there that is the scene of frequent driver miscalculations. I drove through on my way home and saw a car and a truck ass-end up in snowbanks along the side of the road. Oops.

All in all, we got probably 8” of snow over the weekend. Winter isn’t over yet, despite people attempting to drive as though it is.

The long-term forecast for March is for continued below-average temperatures. I usually start seeds in the greenhouse in March, so I am considering backup plans if for some reason I have to push that back a couple of weeks. The greenhouse can be heated with propane, but getting over there is a slog until the snow melts.

I took a break from quilting yesterday. I’ll finish the sashing this morning. I went through the quilting rulers and pulled out some possibilities for the border. I could always do ribbon candy, which I love, but I feel like I should broaden my horizons a bit. On the other hand, I’ve kind of stretched myself with quilting this top and ribbon candy would be a relaxing finish. I am still pondering.

I’ve been working the wheatear stitch (purple) on my leaning pumpkin and I like it a lot:

Slow and steady wins the race.

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I discovered that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has a podcast. I get their e-mails and in a recent one, they highlighted an episode about long-term side effects of treatment. I listened to it a few days ago on my drive into town. The hosts interviewed two women. One had non-Hodgkins lymphoma nine years ago and got the standard R-CHOP regimen. The other woman had acute myeloid leukemia when she was 4 years old, was treated and in remission for 22 years, then relapsed when she was 26. I also had acute myeloid leukemia and received two of the same drugs—idarubicin and Ara-C—over the course of six months.

I listened to about half of the podcast and turned it off. It was so depressing. These poor women have a host of health problems, from bone degeneration to memory issues to dental problems. I consider myself fortunate to have escaped all of that. The only long-term issue I’ve had to manage is some peripheral neuropathy, which manifests as tingling and numbness. I notice it in my fingers when they get cold, but I also have it in my toes no matter the temperature. I am trying to stay on top of it so it doesn’t worsen. I take vitamin B6, which I was given while having chemo, and I also take over-the-counter GABA. And I am trying to be more careful about tripping hazards around here.

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The little deer is still here but she has competition. I put a cup of sweet feed out for her a few days ago, and the next thing I knew, a flock of several dozen turkeys came running over and hoovered it all up. On Saturday, I went to the garage—where we keep the feed—and got a container of scratch grains for the chickens and a cup of sweet feed in a yogurt container for the deer. Sometimes she is waiting for me, but I didn’t see her. I walked back to the house, set the yogurt container on a table on the porch, and went into the coop to feed the chickens. I was in there, at most, for five minutes. When I came out, the deer was on the porch with her nose stuck in the yogurt container, busily munching away. We do not encourage that behavior, trust me.