Friday, December 3, 2021

I'm a Believer!

I am going to date myself. When I wrote this title the first thing I thought of were The Monkees. But this title has nothing to do with the 1984 classic (correction,  apparently it was 1966!).

So, what am I a believer in? Well, after 6 weeks of knee pain I found a remedy that not only relieved the pain, but I think it also fixed it altogether. I was working on the porch roof the other day on a ladder when I shifted my leg sideways and I had excruciating pain in my knee. I literally could not move. Of course, I was home alone (Barb was still in AZ) with no one to hear my cries of pain. It took me 10 minutes to get off the ladder as I had to build up the courage to bend my knee and fight through the pain to get down and hobble back to the couch. Usually, I can fight through the pain but this was a whole new level. 

I looked through the medicine cabinet for something a little stronger than the ibuprofen I usually take but could not find anything. So I texted Cheryl who recently had knee surgery and knows first-hand the best thing to do for knee pain. She said that CBD did wonders for reducing the swelling which in turn relieved the pain. Now, I am not a big CBD guy but it hurt so bad I would have drank bleach had someone suggested it, and I knew Barb had some CBD somewhere in a drawer so I tried a couple. 45 minutes later I am walking around like nothing happened! No buzz, no drowsiness, no nothing and no pain! After that I took two every day for 3 days and I have not had any knee pain since. I even went on a hike the other day! So, yes, I am now a believer.

As cool as that was, what happened on last Sunday was even cooler. No, I did not get TBO, but Forrest, Somer and Lily arrived for a 9-day visit!

We did a variety of things throughout the week including the aforementioned hike. We were going to do a Needles Highway hike but it was closed due to snow so instead we did a hike around Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.

The lake was frozen which really gave it a unique look. 




One of Barb's favorite pastimes is to explore the local auctions sites for treasures she just cannot live without. Well this past week she won not one, but two accordions! This now brings us to three of beautiful "compact" instruments. Barb has never played one, but she loves them and wants to learn and as a bonus, Zoey absolutely goes through the roof anytime she tries to play them!



Wednesday night was of course burger night. Our table was a little bigger with not only Forrest, Somer and Lily but our neighbors Jim and Carmen joined us as well. We were just finishing up dinner when this woman approaches Barb and said, "You look familiar". They started talking and it ends up Barb had sold them a horse over 20 years ago when we lived in Wisconsin! The weird thing about it is that the woman who recognized Barb could not have been over 30 so she would have been 10 or so when her family bought the horse. What are the odds of a 10-year-old recognizing Barb 20 years later?

For those of you who know us from way back then, the horse was Forrest's pony Shamrock. Ends up she married a Pringle local that she met on the circuit when she was 15 and they are now married and live in Hot Springs. Crazy coincidence. 

Forrest and Shamrock at a show in the fall of '97

As I was looking for a picture of Shamrock I ran across this picture of Barb and just have to include it. 

Yup, that's my Barbie....

Thanksgiving was Thursday, and we have so much to be thankful for. It was a very special day being able to share it with Forrest, Somer and Lily.  It is not always easy disrupting your life, not to mention the time and money it takes to travel. We really appreciate them taking the time to come and visit us!

Once it warmed up (a little) I fired up the tractor and we went for a tractor ride down the road and around the property.  

 The next day they went on a train adventure in Hill City! It was a special Christmas Express, so they got to talk to Santa while on the train



Barb even got to whisper into Santa's ear????


While they were enjoying the train ride, I had special visitors myself back home when Farmer Bob and DeAnne stopped by on the way home from Thanksgiving at their daughter's place in Denver. We visited for an hour or so and they continued on their way back home to North Dakota. 

When the "kids" got back from their adventure, they had a Christmas tree with them. Lily and Barb spent a couple hours decorating it. It was a special moment watching those two decorate the tree, we have never had any of our grandchildren around this time of year and it was very special to us. 

The hunt for TBO continues. I have been switching it up between my ground blinds and tree stands spending hours on my quest. I am seeing lots of deer and seeing some great sights. Here is the view from one of my tree stands. This one is about 20' up in a big pine. 

I put together a short video of some of the deer I saw last week. The rut was going on so every buck in the area was searching for hot does... Dino, the last clip in the video is for you as I thought of you when I put this together.....

As cool as all those experiences are, there was one experience that I have never had in my life when I saw something moving off in the distance. After looking through my binoculars I saw it was a bobcat! I was able to try and take a picture with my phone through the binoculars and if you zoom in on the picture below you can see the bobcat. That was a first for me!

Overall, it was a great 10 days, and it went way too fast. We appreciate them taking time out of their busy lives to come out and visit us create memories for all of us that we will never forget!

27 comments:

  1. O-O-O-O Please do a video of Zoey when Barb plays the accordion!!!!!!!

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    1. I'll see if she will cooperate and by "she" I mean Barb. I know Zoey will do her part!

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  2. That is a healthy bobcat! How fun to have Forrest, Sommer and Lily there for Thanksgiving! You are trying not to date yourself, but that Monkees song came out in 1966, not 1984. I still remember Mickey Dolenz singing it on the TV show. Pass the CBD…I feel old now, too!

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    1. Woah,I am old! Google misled me, maybe they re-released it or that particular album came out in '84.

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  3. With all those 8's around you will have a lot to choose from next year!

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    1. Certainly, something to look forward to! I saw several that were very tempting, but I still have almost 30 days to close the deal.

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  4. Glad you found a cure for your knee. Nice that you guys got some quality family time together. Looks like they had a blast. Great video! Missing you guys in Q…just saying. 😉

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    1. We envy you guys being down there, I wish it was a little closer than a 3-day drive so we could drive down for a happy hour or two, or three, or four.....

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  5. I will have to try that CBD stuff for my aches and pains. That's what I love about growing old. You can get together with friends and talk about your ailments and not feel ashamed. In fact we wear them as badges of honor that accentuate our hard lives. I feel that you finally understand where I am coming from since I have been sharing my ailments for 7 years now with you. In fact, now that I think of it, you probably want to apologize for laughing at me when my hands would cramp up with arthritus when eating sushi. I am glad you had time with the grandbabies. They grow up so fast.

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    1. Now that my knee is fixed and have no ailments, I can now go back to making fun of your grotesquely disfigured hands as your sausage fingers try to handle the delicate dexterity of handle chopsticks. It is a sight, that once seen cannot be forgotten!

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  6. Great post...it was fun to see the frozen lake that we just visited in September. My favorite part was to see you both spending time and make memories with Lily and the family. These are memories that she will hold in her heart forever. Hugs to you both.

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    1. Sylvan Lake is one of the prettiest spots in the hills. Especially if you can avoid the crowds. Sure wish we were here when you guys were in the area. Lily is a great kid, I think she had lots of fun.

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  7. Hmmmm I'll keep that CBD in mind. I wonder if it works on animals too? My horses could have used that in their later years. Great barrel picture!!! Have fun with those grandkids while you can!! Looks like decorating that tree was fun, and teach them to drive the tractor! That was my favorite pastime on the ranch when I was a kid!!

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    1. I have not heard of CBD for horses, but you never know! Barb used to use liniment and bute. I think Lily really enjoyed the tractor ride, she drove the tractor for about 1/2 mile but said it was boring and wanted to go back to the wagon.

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  8. What fun having your family visit for 10 days. You sure have a lot of deer on your property. Fingers crossed TBO shows up, if not the last week of your license I'm sure you will get one anyways to fill your freezer or Barb will. :) Glad your knee is better. We are looking forward to Kristi, Jason and Amelia coming here at the lake for Christmas. Kristi is back working full-time and with the baby is feeling rather tired out so this way she does not have to worry about too much decorating and entertaining. Jason's parents will be here to for 2 days. Fun times.

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    1. We will definitely fill the freezer before the end of the season. But, you are right, it is anyone's guess who will do it!

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  9. Everyone I know is jumping on the CBD bandwagon - for aches and pains, anxiety, and dog problems. It seems to be a miracle worker. We got some for Thor to help with his fears of thunderstorms/fireworks, but it's hard to tell if it is helping or not. No two situations are the same, and no matter how many times we try, he just won't answer our questions. Either way, I'm glad it worked well for you, and I'm glad you had some good quality time with your family.

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    1. I would have never in 1,000 years thought I would take, let alone believe it works but here I am. I would definitely take it again if my knee ever acts up in the future.

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  10. What great family time. Having some of the grands to help with the tree is perfect. I can't wait for the Zoey/Barb accordion video!!! Haha! What type CBD did you take? What was the strength? I believe the dog photos were missing!!

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    1. The stuff we have is called Sun State 750mg. I took 2 a day for 4-5 days which seemed to do the trick. I think it reduced the inflammation long enough for it to get better. I am not sure how it would work on chronic pain that is ongoing.

      I will work on the dog photos; I know they were lacking this time!

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  11. I was in love with The Monkees as every tween to teenage girl. LOL. Love the pictures and how fun to spend time with family! I had an uncle in Austria that used to play the accordion, used to love hearing him play it and I was only about 3 years old. Gorgeous ones Barb has! Nice having Lily there to decorate the tree! Love the pic of her on the chair :) Barb's barrel picture, priceless!

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    1. I remember watching the crazy antics of the Monkees back in the day. I don't know how old I was, but it must have been in the early '70's. They don't make shows like that anymore!

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  12. I tried CDB and it did nothing for me...but I think I will try again from a reputable dealer and not something you see on TV and get from Amazon.

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    1. We had gotten ours from an outlet in Oregon, not sure if it is available everywhere or just there but for me, I am convinced it worked.

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  13. Great news about your quick knee recovery, the CBD likely took the inflammation down quickly. Nice to have family around to put up your tree.

    Contessa

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    1. A month later and all is still pain free. I took them for a week and stopped.

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