I can't stand up! I have a bone in my leg!

This has been a most difficult summer. I haven't felt like blogging for a couple of months now (obviously). My right hip has given me hell ever since April of this year. Finally, after several doctor visits, x-rays, a MRI, and a lot of PAIN, I was finally diagnosed with transient osteoporosis in my hip and thigh. This is not to be confused with "regular" osteoporosis.
Not much is known about Transient O - they don't know what causes it and there is no treatment for it. What it does to you is this - in whatever joint it affects it causes the bone marrow to swell. OMG!! This, of course, HURTS! A lot. It also causes the surrounding tissues to swell. The pain was in my hip from my waist down to my knee. And all you can do is wait for it to "transition" away. It comes. It goes. Takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to do its thing. Here's the kicker: All this swelling in the bone marrow sometimes cuts off the blood supply to the bone - causing bone necrosis (bone death).
Hellfire and damnation!!!
Shoot - there were times this summer that pain pills wouldn't even touch it. I would lie awake all night with a throbbing hip and leg. If I moved just a tiny bit the wrong way - well, it was bad. And through it all I didn't know what was wrong. My dooberhead doctor waited 2 months before ordering a MRI - of which I got a copy. Man!! That hip and thigh bone was MESSED UP!
Anyway, it's much better. The pain is finally and slowly getting better. I have good days and not so good days. Now I have to wait and have periodic x-rays to see if any lasting damage has occured. Lord, I hope not. That would mean a total hip replacement. PRAY!

I have managed to take a few photos recently. Take a look:





I think this lil tree frog is lost.


Loose livestock - "MOO. Got mail?"






This is a nice view of a choo-choo. I like the trains and their graffitied boxcars. I have to cross this track at 4 different places.





Some more yard art. I would love to know the story of this "weenie" dog and how he came to be straddled atop a milk can.












Now, I bet y'all didn't know that if you come
across a droopy power line all you need to do
is find you a big ol' stick to prop it up.





BE AFRAID!! Be very afraid...

Step back non-believers or the rain will never come...

This bridge marks the entrance to a Wildlife Refuge area. It's made of railroad ties - with spaces between them large enough to see the water WAY DOWN below. (See the next picture.)








With no rain lately, the water level is pretty low in our bayous.




Even the cattails are praying for rain. A cloudy day would be a relief.

Hotter than the 4th of July

The past two weeks have been brutal out on the mail route. We've had a monster area of high pressure suffocating us with 100+ degrees and no rain. It has been absolutely miserable. With it being so hot and dry, everything is just about burned to a crisp. The grass is brown and crunchy. This is a picture of a digital thermometer on the sunshade in my Jeep. This is what the temperature has been inside that Jeep for the last two weeks on the route -- with the windows down. On the last third of my route I can close the windows and turn on the air. But even then, the temp stays around 92 degrees. WHEW!!!



There have only been a few bright spots along the route these two weeks. Yellow seems to be the only color to survive the heat. Here are the last of the blooms.






Stinky old bitterweeds






Finally! We got some rain today! WOO-HOO!! Temperatures today below 100!! (Not much rain, but some is better than none.) Here's hoping that July will be cooler than June.

Objet d'art

Yard art just fascinates me. What is the inspiration for it? How do they decide what piece goes where and with what other pieces? Is it trial and error? I don't have that particular calling to create yard art. Hence, the questions. Anyway, enjoy.


I really like the bells. Makes me want to run up there and, well, ring it.

And the pots of flowers are a nice touch.


Look at the symmetry of this one.



This would make a nice ad for laundry soap - "Use FLORAL detergent and see the bubbles turn into BLOOMS."


A multi-tasking work of art: sewing, mowing, milk delivery, etc.




I think they use magic to keep that big rock from falling out of those ice tongs.

A lot of hard work goes into yard art. I think some folks really enjoy creating it, though. I know I enjoy looking at it and watching for the next "objet" to appear.

Oh, spit!!

Some things just really, REALLY bother me. Take for instance, spit. Nasty, right? So, why, WHY!!! do people run out to their mailbox, an open letter to be mailed in hand, vigorously licking it to seal it, and then thrust it at me??? OMG!! I wish I'd put on rubber gloves before leaving the office. "Here," they say, "caught you just in time!" I can feel my face drawing into a bizarre mask as I try (not very hard) to hide my DISTASTE. I reach for the envelope, my fingernails pinching a tiny corner. "Yes, you timed it just right," I say as I fling the NASTY, WET object into a back tray. "Here's your mail. Bye." I flee to the next box, stop, and dig out my trusty ANTI-BACTERIAL hand wipes. After several minutes, several wipes, and several under-the-breath NASTY words, I pull out my bottle of Germ-X Hand Sanitizer and use up half of it. Sheesh!

.
NOW! Let me discuss the subject of lipstick. Specifically, lipstick kisses on perfumed envelopes. Usually going to someone in jail. huh. Again, germs. Nastiness. Puckers and Perfume. I said Puckers.


These things are not mentioned in Rural Carrier Academy.

Tidbits - Part 2

As we all know by now (well, not everyone), postage rates have gone up again. I just love it. Not. Most of my customers who mail out on the route are using either the new 44 cent or the "Forever" stamps. Some, I think, just refuse to and keep using the 42 or even lower denomination stamps. Others just don't quite get it, yet. Ugggh!! And, SURPRISE, their letters and bills actually get where they are going. How's that? Well. I put the extra postage on them. And I suppose there are many, many other rural carriers out there who do the same thing. And I KNOW there are some who won't give up those 2 pennies. Anyway, it's kind of a two-way street--customers utilizing "snail mail" help me keep my job and when I put my 2 cents worth in, their bills get paid on time. ;)


More pictures!!
This pair of ducks was wandering from puddle to puddle having a splashing good time until I pointed my camera at them. As they trudged away, I could hear them muttering under their breath, "wak, wak, wak, it's that crazy mail lady again." Then they turned in unison and gave me the stink eye. Double!!


But I really think the puddle snakes wait and watch for me. They probably tell each other, "No, really, wait right here. Just under this mailbox. You'll get to see the crazy mail lady."


Here is the secret garden! A large patch of beautiful daylillies way off the road - almost hidden from my flower radar.

Tidbits

Apparently there's not much going on in my little world. No inspiration for blogging. Shoot.

I saw, for the first time on my route, an alligator. Big 'un. 'Bout six feet long. It was dead. Shoot.




I saw, for the first time on my route, an eagle. It was so beautiful! It flew across the road right in front of me and landed in a pasture. I grabbed my camera, but it wasn't working right. Shoot!!

The air conditioning at the Post Office has been out all week. It's May in the deep South = sweat, limp hair, sweat, humidity, sweat, mosquitoes, sweat. Shoot!!!

My "check engine" light came on today. This stupid Jeep is doing the same thing it did last summer when the outside temp gets up around 90 degrees. Looks like I'm buying another transmission control unit. Shoot!!!!

I stopped to help a turtle that had been clipped by a vehicle and flipped onto his back. I turned him over and got him off of the highway. He wandered on. I hope he's OK. I NEED him to be OK.

I saw some baby doves in a nest under a big bell in a customer's yard. They smiled for my camera.

Also, a "friendly" little water snake, living in a flooded ditch, popped his head up to say "hello" and to also smile for my camera.



Well, it is what it is. Later.