Busyness

 In 2019, we bought tickets to see a concert up at Red Rocks in Colorado.  The artist was a group from Norway called Wardruna.

Unfortunately, my scans that October revealed a return of the cancer (which it seems to have done every 2 years or so, pretty reliably).  An MRI was needed, and was scheduled for the day of the concert in Colorado.

We tried to sell our tickets, but no one wanted them.  We lost that money.

Then, in February of 2020, they announced a return to the US, that would take place in Dallas, TX, in October.  

We went ahead and purchased another set of tickets, with a package deal that included a room at a hotel adjacent to the venue.

Then Covid happened.  The event was postponed indefinitely.  

We were told to keep our tickets, which we did, however, when we asked the hotel for our money back, they refused.  We lost that money.

Some time in 2021, they announced that the concert had been rescheduled for November 10th. We booked a hotel.

But... then, we looked again, and realized that it was rescheduled for November 10th of 2022! 

 Fortunately, that hotel allowed us to cancel.  We tried to get them to just change the reservation, but they could not do that a whole year in advance.

SO, finally, last week, we went to Dallas for the Wardruna show!  It cost us a lot of money to get there, HAHA!  

We took a vacation day for Thursday.  My office always closes for Veterans' Day, and Dave took an additional vacation day, so we scheduled ourselves a 4 day weekend.

About a month ago, we got a room about 6 blocks away from the concert venue, and, when the day came, it was warm and damp, but  the weather was good enough, so we walked.  

Stopped in a really good Italian restaurant for dinner, and enjoyed a night cap at a bar on the way back after the show.

It was really good, all the way around.  The show was wonderful.

On Friday morning, it was POURING rain, so we took our time getting downstairs for breakfast, and getting checked out.

Then, because there is an IKEA store nearby, which we had visited many years ago, we had planned to go there before coming home.

I found kitchen gadgets and a replacement cotton blanket for summer.  It was fun...and we headed to the highway.

Where we got stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours of stop and creep, stop and creep.  It was AWFUL, and we got home so much later than we had wanted to, and totally exhausted....especially Dave, who does all of the driving.

As we traveled north on Friday, we drove into a cold front, coming home to substantially colder weather.  It started to SNOW just a few minutes after we arrived, and got the plants put inside the shed in advance of the hard freeze on Friday night.

Thankfully, we missed that on the highway, as there were slick spots, once the snow started.

Yesterday, I had an eye check up (I'll be getting new glasses for the first time in a long time), and Dave did the grocery shopping, but it was a pretty low key day....we needed that to recover from the whirlwind trip to Dallas!

The half inch or so of snow melted by afternoon, but it stayed pretty cold, and was in the 20s again last night.

Now, we are done being busy for a while, and our Thanksgiving tradition is stress free, so that will be nice.  We've done it so many times, it's easy.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have my annual "well woman" appointment, and the forecast is calling for more "meaningful" snow.

It's been an abrupt change.... we needed the air conditioning last week, it was 75 and balmy in Dallas on Thursday, and now, we have full-on winter weather for at least a week.

The ass hole neighbors have moved out, and left one of their cats behind.  We have found a home for her.

If the weather doesn't interrupt our plans, kitty's new mom will be here Monday afternoon to collect her.  She's such a sweet kitty, and clearly not an outdoor cat.

Unfortunately, she's been on the street for a year (they moved in December of last year, and the only time I ever spoke to one of the tenants was because she was out looking for a kitty who "ran away."  She ended up leaving said kitty outside to fend for herself---meaning for US to take care of).

That being said, kitty will probably need to be indoor/outdoor at her new home....but they live up in Guthrie on an acreage, so that will be perfectly safe for her.  Much better than the city!

I am off to make flapjacks for breakfast.  No set plans for today.... Dave needs to run another errand, and he wants to make two more winter shelters for the feral cats, and I need to do some work on the course I am taking.  It should be an easy-ish day.

Enjoy your week!

Crane spotting weekend

 We left Friday after work, and drove up to Jet, OK, in a very gloomy rain.

We were able to use the trailer house that belongs to the family of my friend Ty, so we got to have free lodging this year, again.  That happened in 2020, as well.

We'd hoped to get up there earlier, but Dave was slow to get ready, and we ended up leaving an hour later than *I* had planned for us to leave.  

As a result, we didn't get there until dark, and we never made it out to the wildlife refuge that evening.

So, Saturday, we got up and out an hour or so later than *I* had planned (haha), and when we got to the refuge, we found that the usual trail to the observation deck was "temporarily closed."  

There was no one at the visitor center when we went past the first time.... so we decided to go to the "auto tour" route, only to find it was closed as well.

We drove around to every other access point, and all were closed.  When we came back by the visitor center, there were people there, and there was a sign that said "HUNTER SIGN IN."

Hunters?? In a wildlife refuge....???

But we didn't stop because the ranger, and the other people who he was with, appeared to be leaving.

Disheartened, we went back to the trailer, and took a hike from there into the adjacent state park.  

We found that the lake across from the trailer was so low, due to our ongoing sever drought, that it was a desolate, horrible-smelling wasteland, littered with hundreds of dead fish.

In the mean time, I had posted on Facebook that the refuge was inexplicably closed.  

After arguing with a couple of friends who posted that they knew that the refuge always closes for the winter in October, and telling them that, no, it does not, because we go Crane Spotting every NOVEMBER, because that's when the cranes gather in their largest numbers.... another friend, who had more free time that we did yesterday, discovered that the refuge had closed on Friday to allow DEER HUNTING.

They're doing a deer cull, because the population within the refuge has gotten too large, and human encroachment and removal of apex predators, has created this.  

This was not on the refuge's Facebook page, or listed anywhere else that we could find, so we had no way of knowing in advance that we would not be able to access the waterfowl observation desk.

UGH!!!

Plus.... it's a deer cull.... and I am, well, a Deer Witch...(hard to explain--just take my word for it). 

The cull is being done in phases, and this weekend was the first phase.  

So... SHIT..... 

Heartbroken, we went back out to the refuge, briefly, so that I could do a blessing, and appeal to the God of the Hunt, and the antlered Goddess of the Deer, asking for the aim of the hunters to be true, and the deaths swift, ensuring as little suffering as possible for the murdered deer.

We went back to the trailer, and hiked the other direction at the state park, as dusk fell, and the cranes started coming back from their daily foraging sites.

As it turned out, hundreds of them flew RIGHT over our heads!  SO many flocks, one after another.

This is usually what we watch come in from a distance from the observation deck at the refuge!  It was SO COOL!

Dave got tired of it, and went in, but I stayed outside, in the cold and growing dark, by the light of the almost full Blood Moon.... feeling wave after wave of emotion wash over me with the cries of the cranes.

Crane was believed to be a messenger of the spirit world, and was also seen as a psychopomp, so I said some prayers to Crane spirit as well, asking that the spirits of the deer being culled be carried to peace and light, immediately and without fear.

So.  All in all, it was a good trip.  I got to do important spiritual work that I had NO idea I would need to be doing.  

I've also had a shift in my perspective about the annual Blood Moon, which is the 13th moon of the year.  This was the time when our ancestors would cull their flocks to prepare for winter.  It was a time of death to ensure life through the cold, harsh months. 

The fields were already harvested, and so, at this time, the meat was harvested....Thus the Blood Moon. 

(This is the original meaning of the phrase Blood Moon, before the internet decided that the red phase of an eclipse is called the blood moon.)

It's not like I was directly involved in the cull, but I knew it was happening all around me, and it was my duty to be there, to intervene, spiritually, on behalf of the deer.

ANYWAY...we are home now, and the laundry is going, and I am working on the menu and shopping list.  Office day tomorrow for me, and cold weather is coming later in the week.  

Have a good week!

Halloween is coming!

 I haven't really gotten all of my decorations put up yet, for various reasons, but today is my brother's 70th birthday.

His birthday has always been pumpkin carving day, so that's happening, and I will get more decorations done today, as well.

AND, we took tomorrow off, so the finishing touches can be done then!

There is also a Dia De Los Muertos festival at Scissortail Park this afternoon that we plan to go to.

We've finally had our last hot day, right as we are looking at images of the ice storm from 2 years ago that was absolutely devastating, and that shut our power, internet, and cell service off for fifteen days.

I still have PTSD from that horrible time.

Before we go to the festival, today will also see a virtual gathering of my Priestess community for ritual, and tomorrow, the re-recording of a pod cast I was invited to do.

Busy days!

When I saw my doctor last week, the lab work looked perfect, along with the urine test..... so there was no indication in the labs of my body having any issues at all with the Verzenio.  

However, getting up to pee anywhere from five to ten times EVERY NIGHT was clearly A BIG ISSUE!

SO, Doc decided to withdraw the medication for ten days to two weeks, to see what would happen.

The very first night with no Verzenio at all (I had already taken the morning dose when I saw the doctor), I only got up twice. 

Twice a night is my norm.  

Since then, I have only gotten up once or twice a night.  That's pretty clear evidence that the Verzenio was, for whatever reason, causing that weird side effect.

There was no indication in any of the literature about this side effect, and they said they had spoken to the drug rep, and there was nothing he'd heard of.  My nurse was also going to contact the medical board of the drug company with the question. I have not heard if she's done that yet. 

Anyway, I got so little sleep for the eight weeks of being on the full dose, that it was really starting to effect my overall health.

We did not discuss what we would do going forward.  Perhaps a lowered dosage.

I would anticipate that when I start back on the medication after this break, I will have the joy of going through the awful diarrhea phase again. This will be just in time for our Thanksgiving trip.  Yay.

In the meantime, I am REALLY enjoying being able to sleep again.

There is so much to do today, including having a new house sitter come get her key, that I really need to not be sitting here.  Have a great week, and a happy Halloween.

Next weekend is Crane spotting!

Sparkling

 We had our studio dance recital last night.

This was my first time back on stage since before the pandemic.   I had hoped to dance last spring, but the pain I was having forced me to drop out of classes.

This semester, though, the class for the elderly (snort) was brought back, so I re-joined the studio for this semester.  I knew that this choreography would be easier on my body in general, because the class is designed for 50 and older.

While I started out still having pain, taking class off when I needed to.... eventually, the change in my meds relieved the pain at last, so I committed 100% to performing at the recital show. 

I was able to borrow a costume, amazingly, that had a bra top that was virtually flat.  I am going to look on Amazon and see if I can order one for myself.

I also coordinated with another older dancer (she's the eldest dancer on stage... we have another one or two who come to classes for the exercise, but are no longer interested in performing).  We did a duet of a Witch themed dance that is popular on the internet this time of year.

We learned and perfected the choreography in just TWO WEEKS!  It was so much fun!  It is fast-paced and very aerobic for us older dancers, but we did it!!

I hope the photographer got some decent shots.  Mine usually end up looking TERRIBLE...because they snap when I am licking my lips, or inhaling, or SOMETHING that distorts my expression... It's been VERY rare for anyone to get a decent performance pic.

Anyway, it was another major emotional triumph for me to step out into the lights one more time.  Cancer can SUCK IT!!

Anyway, I did not sleep last night, until some time after 4 am, and am glad that I already arranged to work from home tomorrow.

(Flu shots are available at my office on Tuesday, so that will be my office day this week.)

SO, today, I am trying a new whole grain baking mix, and there are muffins in the oven.  

I will get my costuming stuff unpacked, and my office put back to rights.  At the moment, there are sequins and floof all over the room, HAHA!

Wishing my dedicated readers a week full of blessings and light. 

Rain at last

 After a few days of hot weather, a front came through last night, and it rained for about 30 minutes.

We need days of rain at this point, but we are grateful to have gotten some.

One week from today, I will step on stage for the first time since March of 2020.  The dance routines I will be performing are quite different from one another.

One is gentle and flowing, and the other is fun and a bit goofy.

Unfortunately, I woke up today with vertigo, and am supposed to rehearse with my class this afternoon.... hoping I can overcome the vertigo quickly!

On that note, I am going to go lie back down.

Have a good week!

The great cool down

 The hot weather has finally ended!

We even got a few rain drops the other day... but we're still in extreme drought, and the lake level is lower than it's been in years.  

I've enjoyed taking some of my hot weather clothing out of the closet, putting it in the dresser in the laundry room, and replacing it with the cooler weather clothing that's been in storage back there since April.

I like to go through everything twice a year and take donations to charities.  Then, I like to go thrift store shopping to look for new-to-me wardrobe items.

This has not happened since "the before times" in the days before covid.... I am kind of getting the urge to do it now.

There's nothing much else to report this week. 

Heilung

 We went to Dallas yesterday for a long-awaited theatrical experience, seeing Heilung.

Heilung is a musical collective that presents what they refer to as "amplified history."  They make music out of ancient stories, chants, poems, and spells.

Their instrumentation is mostly drums, various percussion, ancient stringed instruments, and voices.

We ordered the tickets to long ago, neither of us can remember when.

Our hotel had to be kind of far away from the venue, because anything close by was $300 per night, so we ended up taking Uber rides to and from the show, which added up to more money than expected.

However, after the long wait, and all of our planning for this event (we dressed up, etc), it was well worth it.

Now, however, it is Sunday night, and I am exhausted... so I will leave it at that for this week.