High Fiber--Spring at Last! Not Kidding This Time!

The pups are enjoying their walks:

If they look a little scruffy, it's because they were due to go to the groomer today. Poodle fiber, spinners?

We certainly have had enough rain and snow to last us! The seasonal streams are flowing full force, and the snow is disappearing. There is none left in our yard. In fact, snow is so scarce, I saw a man removing snow from the short street that's closed every winter for snow storage. I don't know if he was stealing it or trying to get the road open!

Some things uncovered by the disappearance of the snow include these vole burrows:

I assume they construct them so they can get around under the snow without getting too cold. They probably live deeper in the ground, because these will disappear, leaving no trace. Or maybe the voles pack up the kids and head northward in their little trailers....

More rain last week brought us this:

We just happened to be on the road, coming back from Home Depot, when we spotted this. We had a perfect view of it because the land is fairly flat along this highway.

Spring has brought some excitement into the lives of the DGDs. DGD1 graduated from high school last Thursday. She's the second from the left. Off to college in the fall!

DGD2 is on vacation in Texas, as you probably know if you read last week's blog. She and her family went to Galveston, where she enjoyed the sun and wind.

They did a lot of walking, and her feet were sore.

Daphne is trying to take after her DGM, who can put both feet in her mouth at once and keep talking. (You didn't know I was that limber, did you?) But Daphne has outstanding technique and will no doubt excel at it eventually.

Yes, it is spring at last! We have the wildflowers to prove it! Here's the Yellow Columbine.

Then we have Mule's Ear, which is prettier than the name:

DBIL's cardigan may be done in time for summer. I now have the left front done up to past attaching the pocket. Just a straight shot to the armhole.

Will spring continue? Will more wildflowers grace the mountains of Utah? What will the pups look like after their grooming appointment? Tune in next week to find out the answers to this, and maybe see more knitting, spinning and quilting.

What's on my needles: DBIL's cardi and a felted bag for my MacBook, and I'm working on my applique project again for a special quilt.
What's on my wheel: The Louet Olive Green Corriedale, bobbin #2. Getting fuller.

What's in my hoop: The languishing hand-pieced quilt.

What's on my iPad: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

What's on my iPod: Various podcasts, still including The Sweater Quest by Adrienne Martini, read by the author.

What's my app of the week: Dean Koontz. (Yes, the famous author has an app!) I use it to find out when sequels are due to come out. That was how I learned that Frankenstein: The Dead Town was coming out. It's out now, and I downloaded it from Audible.

What's in my wine glass: Tapeña Tempranillo 2009, from Spain. (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and MacBook working together, but no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

Tags: Spring, baby, flowers, grandchildren, knitting, poodles, quilting, rainbow, vole

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Comment by Frances Tornese on June 12, 2011 at 2:34pm: I always knit while in the hospital! It's a great way to pass the time and feel productive.

Comment by Frances Tornese on June 12, 2011 at 2:33pm: No I don't have diabetes. They do think I have some autoimmune disease, but not a common one. They told me that there are hundreds of them and that most are not being studied, don't have names and don't have a cure. So, that's their GUESS really. After I got out of the hospital a week later I went out to check my bees and was stung 20 times on my head, lip and neck. No problem; no reaction at all, which is normal for me. So, the cellulitis was a freak thing and I doubt it will ever happen again. But, I know the symptoms and I'll head for the ER if it does. Angel, have they ever tried Fentanyl patches for your bad pain? It's the only very strong pain reliever that works for me. I am Anglo/Monacan/Cherokee/Chickasaw and one trait that ONLY occurs in SOME American Indian families is the lack of a liver enzyme that makes morphine and dilaudid effective. My family is one of those. So those drugs don't work for me. I have to be given Fentanyl after surgeries. It works well. The doctors don't like to use it, but they have to in my case. I think it's usually perscribed for severe chronic pain and for people in their last days when they have been on dilaudid so long that they are resistant to it. You might benefit from a pain specialist. I don't like them, but that's because, here in NJ, they don't have a clue about treating indigeanous people either culturally or medically.

Comment by angelkarhu on June 12, 2011 at 1:52pm: An ER doc once thought I had appendicitis until I told them I have no appendix! It was removed when I was 15 along with ovarion cysts. Turned out to be a severe case of that stomach issue that occurs a lot on cruise ships due to contaminated water. Had the water while babysitting for a friend. She got sick too.

Comment by angelkarhu on June 12, 2011 at 1:45pm: Are you diabetic? My mom had the cellulitis you speak off. They tried multiple antibiotics, but she waited until the last possible moment to go to ER. The staph had entered the blood stream on her, the leg was completely swollen and she could barely breathe. My father took her to ER kicking and screaming so to speak. She was hospitalized for 10 days and on Oxygen 24/7 for weeks afterwords. Now she just has oxygen to sleep as a sleep study showed her breathing stopped every now and then. Sounds as if your immune system is compromised. I'm not a dr but maybe your body is developing an autoimmune disorder, which can compromise your immune system.

Mine wasnt as bad as yours as it was just my finger and a massive headache. My pain scale was nearly a 10 and I'm allergic to all pain meds so could get notta for pain. And it was severe. Took a klonopin for my tension headaches but no nurse would give me water so I was getting very onery and flat out told them, either someone gets me water to swallow this or I'm going to put this pill in mouth, which I'll proceed to choke on and then you'll have a real emergency! It will relax me and help with pain. Got my water and pain did subside some and I was relaxing. Klonopin is for panic attacks and also a muscle relaxant. Basically they just wanted me to grin and bare it. Not possible with that much pain.

Comment by cherylbwaters on June 12, 2011 at 1:30pm: Oh, my, both of you make me realize how lucky most of us are.

I do understand the ER visits. Not because of me but because I've been so many times in the last few years, mostly with my MIL, but a couple of times with my DH and once with No. 4 son. Since I am not the one who has been sick, I always try to have a knitting bag ready to go.

Comment by Frances Tornese on June 12, 2011 at 12:54pm: I hate to go to the ER. It's crowded, there is always quite a wait, and the co pay is still a lot. BUT, all of that isn't worth your life. When in doubt, get to the ER. My insurance co. has a 24 hour nurse hot line. Now, I call it and ask. This last hospital stay was what I and she thought was a case of appendisitis. It turned out to be something much more serious. At first I was told it was advanced colon cancer. Luckily, that diagnosis was wrong and it was only a very large infection. I don't understand why I am now having problems with infections. The docs say it happens and they don't know why.

Comment by Frances Tornese on June 12, 2011 at 12:49pm: Angel, mine was filled with clear fluid. It got bigger and biggerand the skin pulling up was awfully painful. I knew not to drain it myself. In the ER the doctor drained it and collected the fluid and that's what they cultured. My leg was red up to mid calf. It took a week in the hospital and lots of IV vankomysin to cure it. but, now that leg swells up and that might never stop. They applauded me, so to speak, for getting into the ER quickly. They said it was a potential life threatening infection.

Comment by Frances Tornese on June 12, 2011 at 12:43pm: Yes Cheryl. I never thought of it either and neither had the New Jersy Dept of Agriculture. They were very concerned, because that outs bee keepers at risk. So, they followed my case closely. We will never know for sure whether it came from my skin or whether the bee had it on her stinger, but either way is possible. The doctors at the hospital think it was the bee and the Dept of Ag thinks it was my skin. Since there have never been other bacterial cases of bee keepers followed it is likely that it was from my skin. We all have staph and strep on our skin all of the time. Usually, our immune systems deal with the bacteria when we get cut or scraped. But, sometimes it doesn't and now there are tougher strains out there. When I went in the hospital they clearly had never seen a case from a bee sting. The took cultures and tried out many different antibiotics on them to find the one that would work. The one they chose was Vankomysin (spelling?)

Comment by angelkarhu on June 12, 2011 at 12:35pm: If my culture takes turns up staph I probably allowed it in when I drained it myself. Now that takes some gumption, the self draining or lancing. It felt better after that but then took a nap and woke up with it all filled with fluid again which was no longer clear as before. I'm immune comprimised and know how to recognize a bad infection compared to others. My primary care wont give antibiotics unless it was drainable and it was too late for an appt on Fri, when I noticed it. And Dialysis staff wont call a dr. When I clearly needed one as they would at old center. Stupid policies. If its bothersome go to ER. Now are they going to pay the bill when it could have been avoided?

Comment by cherylbwaters on June 12, 2011 at 12:19pm: Frances, I would have never thought of staph entering due to a bee sting. Hope things are getting better.