The 83º weather earlier today made me antsy to get outside to do some yard work.
So, after Bible Study was over and several other diversions, I ventured forth.
The weather had changed rapidly.  A strong wind from the north east had knocked
out a window candle and brought a rapid change in the temperature. 
As of this evening the temperature is a chilly 46.4 º.

Remember my barrel from last spring?

The tulips from last year had been planted at various and sundry places around Shady Acres, (They are actually coming up profusely this spring) and summer flowers had been planted and carefully tended in the barrel.  In the fall, the flowers had been pulled out and the barrel has lain dormant over the winter.  A few days ago, I noticed two volunteer tulips coming up, and it reminded me that I had a bag of tulips in the pump room, waiting for planting. 

So, out I went into the wind and chill and planted those 100 tulip bulbs (using the barrel and four other containers.)  Now it is time to wait for what might happen.   At least with the promised rain tonight, they will get a good watering for starters, and I will let you all know how this turns out.

On another note, I saw the doctor this week in regards to the trouble I have been having with a lame arm.  You see, it happened like this:

The right arm of Certain Man’s Wife gets used for a great many things — stirring soup, kneading and shaping bread loaves, scrubbing counters, clicking the mouse on the computer, and stuff she doesn’t even think about until something complains.  It literally is a “right hand helper”  (duh!)

About two weeks ago, there was this very nice pen that wasn’t co-operating.  It hadn’t co-operated for a while, and for some reason, CMW was constantly picking it up in time of need, and it would not even budge into a writing position.  It was stuck in the retracted position.  (CMW was of the opinion that this may have started when she used a pen to unstick the opening in a tube of super glue one day when she wasn’t thinking about possible consequences to the pen, but this story isn’t about that incident, so why bring that up?)  The problem was, there was nothing visibly wrong with the pen.  It looked like it had ample ink, and it was otherwise in great condition.  So every time CMW picked it up (usually when there was a very important person on the other end of the telephone line instructing her to make a note of something) it caused her great frustration when she realized that once again, she had picked up THAT PEN.

In a moment of brilliant inspiration, she decided that she would either fix or break that pen.  There was a magazine lying on the cupboard and she seized that pen in a death grip and brought it top down upon the magazine with great force, causing the plunger to go crashing down, forcing the writing end into position.  This was good.  Except it looked a bit like it might be stuck now into the out position.  Investigation proved this to be so.  So, CMW upended that offensive pen and brought it down “CRASH!!!” on the magazine again, and the writing end went back inside. 

Almost immediately, there started this annoying pain radiating from her elbow down towards her wrist.  It really didn’t register until she went to lift something and then there was this alarming pain, and a decided inability to perform the task.  Also, a strange sounding clunking noise somewhere inside the elbow when the lower arm was moved in a particular direction.Over the next couple of days there were varying degrees of discomfort — some rather in the “excruciating” range at times, so it was decided to pay a visit to Dr. Rowe’s office and have a consult with Fred, the engaging PA employed there.

Sometimes it is comforting to have a medical person come in, ask about four pointed questions and come to a diagnosis in less than five minutes.  “You’ve got yourself a good case of tendonitis.” he announced cheerily.  And he explained how it happened and what all was involved in the inflammation.  “You need to get a brace to go just below your elbow, use heat on it, do some range of motion exercises in a gentle sort of way, and just be patient.  It will take up to five or six weeks to get all better.  And you need to exercise a little caution in using it.”  He did an X-ray for good measure, and it showed no chipped or broken bones, no dislocation, no large cancerous tumors growing there, and so he said there was nothing to really do about it except to come back in six weeks.

Oh, dear.  This has to be punishment meted out upon Certain Man’s Wife.  You see, back when she and Certain Man were planning their wedding in 1973, CMW’s Sweet Mama took it upon herself to repaint most of the inside of the old farmhouse on Greenwood Road.  (Just the thought of such a daunting task causes CMW’s courage to fail, but then, Sweet Mama was only 44 years young at the time — as opposed to CMW’s current 53 years OLD–It makes a difference!!!) The resulting beauty to the old farmhouse was pretty incredible, but the resulting tendonitis in Sweet Mama’s elbow was so bad that she could not shake hands with her right hand at the wedding.  In some indirect way, CMW has always felt responsible for that.  So, now it has come home to roost, causing a great deal of sympathy for her Sweet Mama all those many years ago. 

Middle Daughter had better be getting ready for a crash course in bread baking. 

And bring on the Ben Gay, Heating pad and Arthritis medicine . . . CMW needs it all.