Elevations

Unfortunately, in just about every group of individuals from human to horses to chickens to ants, there's a social hierarchy, a pecking order, varying elevations.  It's a fact of life, although I question whether human society needs social hierarchies in the first place.  Regardless, whatever your standing, any person is prone to all the same maladies and emotions as often as anyone else.  So try to be happy under any circumstance, and strive to be the best that you can be.


There was a three-part model on happiness in the 2005 issue of the Review of General Psychology:  About half of your happiness is biological - your health , attitude toward life and ability to enjoy whatever you have.  10% of happiness is based on financial situation and other circumstances.  And the final 40% of happiness comes from intentional activity—the things you choose to do.

Life is a day-to-day existence at several elevations, full of ups and downs, peaks and troughs, good and bad times, successes and failures.  The mountain can be seen as a hurdle or as the high point in life just as coming down can be a fun easy coast or the start of despair.  But when down in the valley, does it have to be seen as a low point in life?   The climb up or being down do not have to be viewed as good or bad, they are just part of life.  Enjoy life in all its elevations, at every height and depth. 

Saturday morning's mourning dove at the feeder.
I took a much deserved and needed day off from the gym.  It was partly sunny but rather cold out, so I decided to drive to town to shop for a few things to pack for our up-coming cruise.

I shopped for hours and got a bunch of good buys at two different thrift stores.  At the first I bought 14 items of clothing (ex - skirt and jacket count as two) all at half price, for a total of $39.25 including tax.  That's $2.80 each!  

My favorite buy is this shirt and skirt that I can mix and match on our cruise to stretch my wardrobe farther and enable me to pack less.  

This dress was the priciest because it had never been worn and still had the Chico's nearly 70 dollar price tag on it.  

At the second thrift store I got some knick-knacks for the fireplace shelves, some accessories (belts, and scarf) for my outfits, and a $5.00 ginormous suitcase that rolls when pulled.

At Wal-Mart I bought some costume jewelry in addition to several needed household items.  I am now ready to pack for the cruise.

Seen here, the suitcase at home undergoing inspection.

Joe and I went to Patty's for dinner with Shirley and Brian also invited.  We discussed the cruise for awhile and other conversations continued until past 9:00.  

After Church Sunday I washed my 'new' clothes, cleaned up the wooden knick-knacks I had just bought, and started cleaning and arranging the shelves and mantel once I took down my snowmen and wintery decorations.  

I needed to spray air freshener on the old smelling suitcase but wanted to wait for a dry sunny day when I could set it out on the porch.  It is momentarily serving as a playground (wrestling rink) for the cats. 

Midafternoon I went to Jan's for cat care and then on to the gym.  I really pushed myself on the workout, especially my abdominal and oblique muscles.  When lifting weights, you work hard on the up, but it is also important to control (by continuing to contract your muscles) on the down... not to just let the weights fall, not to go fast during the lowering.  I spent almost an hour on the elliptical, switching the TV between Fixer Upper and Pre Super Bowl, and I was then out of time to stretch because the gym was closing.  Joe was watching the Super Bowl when I got home and we just snacked for dinner. 

I didn't sleep very well and got out of bed Monday morning feeling like I had been hit by a Mac truck, especially my gut.  I was hoping it was just from the strenuous workout the day before.  Walking the dog in a downpour did not help my outlook (or emotional elevation) on life.  I drug myself to Ballroom aerobics hoping some movement and stretching would help, but got home feeling chilled to the bone and my tummy hurt.  A bowl of hot cream of wheat helped but still feeling cold, I laid down in front of the fire to read.

I ended up taking over a two hour nap.  I didn't feel any better when I woke up.  At least the rain had stopped and the sun came out, which my fur babies enjoyed.  I had to run to Jan's for cat care, then came home and watched a movie with Joe.  I was in bed a little after 7 pm.  Having taken a pm pain pill, I was down and out for the count.

I woke at 7 am Tuesday, sleeping over 11 hours.  I felt better, not near as achy and no longer chilled.  My spirt was elevated.  But shortly after my first cup of tea I had a major case of diarrhea, that continued to plague me all morning and cause abdominal distress.  I felt ok otherwise, never had a temperature, cough, or runny nose so do not know what caused my affliction. I started this blog and completed the first three days of photos and text. 

By 1:00 my gut was feeling better, so I ate a mild lunch, and it caused no further problems.  I was undecided as to how to continue my day.  Go work out, or give it another day of rest.  

Needing to digest before exercise, and feeling a bit chilled, I sat in front of the fire to read.  Soon the dog joined me, then Monita, and then Stevie.

Well, I remained there the rest of the day and into the evening.  I finished the fifth book of an Amish mystery series Cathy gave me. 

Then I watched an episode of Fixer Upper.  They talked about design elevations, and went to great trouble to change the elevation of the house they were working on for better curb appeal.  What a difference.

I tried a salad for dinner, what I was craving, and it did not bother my digestive tract.  Then Joe and I watched a captivating movie, Crooked House.  I would recommend it to any mystery lover.  

I had another long night of sleep, and Wednesday morning I woke feeling almost normal.  It had rained a lot, so I walked Maggie on part of library trail to check out its condition.  

Then I proceeded down back to feed the ducks and checkout the high water level.

More of the dirt and grass bank had given way on this last bend in the creek before the pond.  Maybe its best that it were wider here anyway.  

The creek was still in a fairly flooded state and lots more leaves had washed down into the pond. 

It was Lady's Club day.  I picked up Patty, who was my guest and we met Shirley there.  We sat at Cheryl's table.  The business meeting went fairly quickly, the food was good, and so was the speaker.  He talked about disaster preparedness. 

Joe left for poker shortly after I got home.  I needed to digest before going to the gym, so puttered around until 5:00 when I finally went to work out. 

Home by 7:00, I and the critters had a late dinner.  By 8 pm I was settled in front of the fire, doing all my stretches while watching TV.  Look how Monita fell asleep draped over Maggie's legs. 

Thursday's Red Headed Woodpecker at the feeder.

By the time I was done at my computer (and with my two cups of tea) the skies finally cleared off and the sun was shining bright.  I took the suitcase out on the porch, in the sun and sprayed it down with a fabric freshener.  











Monita enjoyed the sun while lying in the window by my desk while I attended to cruise paperwork.

Stevie often tries to find a hiding place so she will not be disturbed by the kitten.   It was the blue bag at this time.  

Look at those feet.

The sun was nice but it was still on the cool side, but I went to the barn knowing my riding opportunities were limited.



Amiga was easy to catch, but was a dirty mess. 
Chester always gets so excited about me coming to ride Amiga and he and Boz joined us.  It was muddy and slippery so I didn't ride fast and let Amiga graze a lot.  I was in the saddle for 90 min.  By the time I got done, my hands were cold and I was too late to get to stretch class.  Joe and I went to Food City together and got some groceries and built our own salad.  After dinner we watched the spy movie Atomic Blonde.

Friday morning the skies were blue, it was at its warmest temperature for all week and the sun was wonderful.  I love how it comes in the balcony window in the morning.  Stevie enjoys her look out post, on this stool, especially since Monita doesn't notice her here and she can sit undisturbed.









I put the suitcase back out on the porch in the sun and also sprayed my new boots with water proofing so they won't get damaged by salt water, if they get wet during our beach ride.

Joe left for Illinois and then while I was sitting here at my desk, Maggie started barking at something.  I soon noticed a squirrel down in the leaves behind Brian's (not this one in photo taken another day when it was cloudy). 

The poor thing was struggling to walk.  It kept rolling (log roll fashion) down the slope or walking in circles and falling over.  I watched it for a l-o-n-g time as it made its way across the back, to the corn by the pond.  But at one point it rolled down the slop and into the pond.  It was able to get back out but I felt I needed to rescue it from possible drowning.  I got a rake and headed down back.  Two squirrels scurried up a tree when I approached the bench on the rock.  The injured squirrel (probably neurological damage) was nowhere in sight.  I searched the pond and creek, three times, and could not find it.  Where had it gone?  Had it miraculously gotten better and climbed the tree?

I gave up my search because I needed to get going to the barn, where I met up with Deana.  We rode into the Glade by way of the DMZ (our new name for the privately owned power line area) because the trails were way too muddy and slippery and Holly Trail would be dangerous.  Jan and Betty met up with us on Marmaduke, seen right.  It was warm and sunny and we all enjoyed our ride together.  Deana and I had been out for over two hours and were a little saddle sore when we got back to the barn.



I did two hours of yard work once home and while cleaning leaves out of the drainage ditch, pulled out a drowned squirrel.  Why hadn't I thought to look in this section earlier?  I felt terrible, but kept trying to convince myself that at least its death was fairly quick.  Who knows how long it would have suffered otherwise.






This photo, taken after the rain came, shows the ditch that had been full of leaves and the dead squirrel.  Most of what I pulled out is seen black in color.  I buried the squirrel, finished up yard work and scurried off to the gym.  I got home after 7:00 for a frozen dinner and a few hours of recorded TV shows by the fire with my fur babies.

Heavy rain moved into the area overnight and I got wet walking the dog Saturday morning.  I took this photo of the ducks in the creek from the door of our covered porch using the zoom on my camera.  The panoramic photo was also taken from the porch while it was raining.  The pond and creek were quite full.

We had a scheduled 9 am meeting at Patty's to do our finalizing of plans for our upcoming cruise.  We Face-timed with Teresa and accomplished most of what we needed to do.  Shirley had brought each of us girls a gift bag of goodies and supplies we could take with us.  Very thoughtful of her.

I had soup for an early lunch when I got home because I had gotten wet and cold again when walking the dog.

Monita tends to get the higher elevation on the cat tower because Stevie prefers to stay semi-hidden.

It rained all day, often quite hard and remained dark and dreary.  It was not a weight day, but I went to the gym to burn a few calories.  I did 20 minutes each on the rowing machine, walking track, and elliptical.


Freshly showered and home at 4 pm (when the gym closes on Saturday) I then tried on a ton of clothes, selecting outfits and ensembles to pack that I could mix and match.  It was my own little personal fashion show.  We don't have a floor length mirror, so I had to stand on the bathtub each time to see head to toe in our vanity mirror.

I had salad for dinner, two more cold and wet dog walks, followed by TV by the fire.