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Some pain and some rain as fall marches on towards winter.

So, I'll start with the pain as in a pain in both of our backs!
My pain started with me doing something around October 12th or 13th, and I don't know what it was so I can try to make sure I won't do it again!
But the afternoon of the 13th I was having pain on my left hip and by the next day the pain was down the front of my left thigh too and was extremely painful just lifting my left leg. Just standing hurt and trying to lift my leg to get into a vehicle was almost tears to my eyes painful on my left thigh.
You know how something like this happens and you might start to think of a "worst case scenario", kinda like in July 2013 when out of blue I had my BPPV vertigo event happen and was thinking "is this my new normal?" by week 2. Then this also seemingly 'out of the blue' since I had no strain or injury to cause this pain I could recall, I started thinking I was suddenly one of those guys to deal with lower back and leg 'sciatica' pain for the rest of my life, after so far, being pretty pain free for my age. Well, was I?

Of course that weekend was pretty well shot not only due to rain but as I wound up staying off my leg and seeing if a combination of that and anti inflammatory meds would help all day Saturday. And that actually did help quite a bit and Sunday morning I was feeling much better.  Still some pain but manageable.
Stacy loves Christmas and is eagerly waiting for Thanksgiving when we'll put up the new trees she got after Christmas last year.
So, Stacy wanted to get a bit of a jump on the set up and wanted to relocate a couch from the living room down to the sewing room and take that couch in the sewing room up to the living room. Moving couches from one room to the other requires taking each one outside the front and around to the lower level side door, or vice versa, as both are too big to just go through the house, currently, but we have big plans to change the walls and floor plan when we get the opportunity to do so!
Some day, (sigh), but for now though, it is via the convoluted way.

I'm downstairs working on the laptop, STILL getting the summer trip photos done!, and Stacy who has been sewing on her project for a while, says "why don't we move the couches?" I said, "but it's raining, are you sure?" Of course she was!
In retrospect I should have "said no way, Jose, it's raining and they'll get wet", but I didn't. She even wishes I said that now in hindsight!
So we move some stuff around to make a path to the door. I lift, Stacy lifts and we each take one twisting side step to tilt the back of this couch down and then it was "put it down, put it DOWN!" from Stacy. She does, I do, her back is hurting as is mine and my leg, again. Just that fast.
The rest of the day we are both in pain, both taking some pain medications in search of relief.

The next day, Monday, while we're at work she makes an appointment at a local chiropractor for the next morning. I've been to a chiropractor before, back in California for work injuries and when I had my vertigo problem in 2013, Stacy never has been to one at that point. Tuesday morning we both go over and I was going to wait inside for her and my plan had been, to keep costs down, see how well she comes out of it and then maybe I'd go too. Right then though Stacy volunteers me to be seen right then too.
While unexpected, I wasn't angry about it as I was hurting also. Like I'd said I was most concerned about the cost but the nurse looked us up and found out deductible had been met for the year so it was only 10% out of pocket for us. I'm much happier about it and we get worked on.

It turns out that both my and Stacy's lower back and hip muscle injuries are pretty much the same, and while I hadn't known what I'd done a few days before, I sure knew now! Warm towels, tens machines, stretching, and getting 'adjusted' have done the trick. Tomorrow ( Friday) morning will be our last visit for this injury so after 4 sessions we're back to normal and will be very careful if we even try to move those couches again, and we're not sure at the moment.
Stacy got us some of those

Mild and overcast with rain has been the weather the last few weeks. Now, mild here is lows in the 40s at night and in the 50s in the daytime, not the 70s as it would have been back in California to be 'mild', but I think last year it was already in the low to mid 30s at night about this time.


The leaves have more like dumped off the trees on the lawn at the Courthouse instead of fallen off over a few weeks. Still, a pretty fall photo. 
Now if the rain will go away so I can fly the Q500+ and get some aerial photos!

With the recent storms working through and even with the warm weather, relatively, there has been the first snow showing up on our area mountains. We decided to beat the rush and had the Prius wheels changed yesterday to the 'snow tires' for the season. Many wait until that first snowy day and flood the area tire store. The winter tires are a bit noisy due to the studs in the tread for ice and the Prius drops to the low to mid 40 mpg range with the slightly wider, more grippy, tires. But with the snow tires we can continue to drive the Prius for much of the winter except for deep snow until the spring when everything goes to mush with the winter melt off. And even mid 40s for the mpg is better economy than any other vehicle we have.

And one last thing about weather, I had been reading it was supposed to be a continuation of the last few winters which meant most of the real 'winter weather' would go right over the top in Canada and fall back down into the USA just 60 miles away in Montana with the Libby area and East from there getting all the cold and snow this area used to get in the Winter. Then today I was reading a story on Time.com and saw the revised NOAA forcast that has almost straight across from Washington to the midwest seasonal normal cold temps and wetter than normal for this area of the inland North West. Unfortunately, for our old area of Southern California, the drought is to continue.  


Of Figs!
They're all gone now but in mid September to early October, there be Figs in Bonners Ferry!
Figs are one of the few things I truly miss from living in California. At our property in Phelan we had several Fig trees, they grew very well in the high desert and not much could! I love figs! I had not known until recently there were so many varieties of Figs. In Phelan we had the purple or 'black' "Mission" and the greenish-white, "Kadota"type Figs. The purple is more common but the greenish-white tasted better I think.
Anyway, as Figs are a very delicate fruit, I was interested in the plastic protective packaging the stores had in as they were shipped from areas they grow which is apparently very far from here.


Above and below: 9 figs in a container. When I first saw them at Super 1 Foods, those figs were labeled as "organic" and were $10.00 for a pack. Too much for me!
The package in these photos and another one just like it for 18 Figs were found a couple of weeks later at our Safeway at $5.00 a pack, which while expensive, was more 'palatable'! 


Last year a friend that lives in So. Cal. actually 'priority' mailed some figs from her own tree. Kind of an experiment, it worked! She had carefully wrapped up about 6 in copious amounts of paper towels to protect them in transit and had included some other things to, and they arrived totally undamaged and in great shape. They were gone in minutes as while I love Figs, Stacy....well, not so much!
In fact she'd planted all the Figs at our Phelan property for me and the kids as they liked Figs too.
Pomegranates are another seasonal delight. I remember as low as 'free' if you came across a tree and the owner didn't mind to fifty cents each  or so for one or two of them at the store.
Not in the north! On sale at $2.00 to $2.50 EACH or 2 for $5.00 sometimes, like that's a savings. I came across a plastic cup of the dismantled Pomegranate seeds, 3 ounces for $5.00 and while convenient that is even more expensive! Oh well, that's the way of the world today, more choices than ever before but you have to shop carefully!

Til next post. 


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