It's December, What Happened With November~

Our Christmas card insert above~

It has been a really crazy past 7 weeks and more is on the way.  I have been feeling on the low side and just dealing with one day at a time.  This has not been easy, but I love life and I always make the best of it...thinking positive is much healthier than thinking negatively.  It's just doing life and doing it well...keeping the faith and enjoying each day as it comes~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after                                                                you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:

http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Saturday's Critter

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'

    

Maggie's  MOSAIC MONDAY

                                              https://normandylife.blogspot.com/

& 

Stewart for:

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our Christmas tree was up and adorned before Thanksgiving which is our tradition~

More Knee Surgery~

This morning I sat and read over the information that my DR gave me yesterday.

He has mentioned capsular thickening.

He is going to do an Arthroscopic procedure called Capsule Release surgery on the 29th of this month.

He is suspecting Plica Syndrome which can be suspected when you have my kind of symptoms. I looked it up on the Internet to better understand and it states that in some patients, particularly those who may have had injuries, or multiple surgeries over the medial aspect of the knee, (I have had two) the medial synovial plica may become very thick and fibrotic and may catch over the medial aspect of the medial femoral condyle.

I am confident that this will take care of and resolve any further issues with this silly knee. It's as it would be that when you have had 7 years of problems on and off with one knee, that eventually the other knee is going to take some force...the force has landed softly and I want to keep it that way. Looking forward to having this all taken care of and on the mend, once again.

It worked out beautifully as on the week of the 18th, my husby turns 70, and then on 21st, I will.  Our 48th wedding anniversary is on 22nd and then Christmas on the 25th.  I am so thankful that my surgery comes after the festivities~

The husby and I went down to the Ohio River and had dinner the other week.  This was right at sunset~

   

A week ago this past Sunday on my way to Bible study and this handsome White-Tailed Deer/buck was making his way across the frost and fog covered Bluegrass lawn.  There was enough colour left in the trees, to make the images pop~  

I had taken the images of the Red-Shouldered Hawk above on my way into the city for PT the other day and on my way back home, stopped again...

LOL I was thinking what kind of bird is that...is it even a bird...

No...it was a Red Fox Squirrel~

My weeks are filled with three days of driving into the city for my Physiotherapy appointments as well as checking on some of the local birds that I can see this time of year.  This stunning Red-Tailed Hawk was in a tree just a mile from returning to our home...love the beauty of this one~

 We have quite a few Buffalo/Bison farms in our state and this is a new one near where we live.  I stopped by the other day while driving home and noticed one of them had gotten a branch caught over one of'his horns.  I watched until it got the thing off as well as traffic had begun to move~

A Doe was running past a break in the fence along the lane and ready to leap over the fence in front of her when I snagged this quick glimpse~

The pair of Bald Eagles that I have been keeping up with for the past three years had used that same nest.  A large part of it fell away this past July and they have been working on one in a tree right next to old nest.  Someone had been getting way too close to the nest, even taking up to sitting in a chair some 100'~from nest with a HUGE camera...I am so sorry, but you just don't do that.  I had a little chat with him and I am hoping that he will honor my request.  The Eagles had been missing for some 10 days after his two day visit and then on Monday morning I captured these from a good distance.  One of them was breaking a branch to take up to the nest...still building it up and I feel so much better now~

Some of the country lanes, there are still little spots with colour~

Bah Bye little Shrew. A very hungry...I believe to be a first year Red-Shouldered Hawk because it still has a splash of the dripping rufous feathers running down it's chest, and has already earned it's red shoulders ;) was wire hunting as I came home from the market this afternoon. I had stopped in a parking lot to observe and I had barely gotten the car turned off and it went to the ground, bringing up a tiny Shrew and devoured it whole in less than two minutes from it's capture. The hawk held tightly to it when an American Crow tried a dive bomb, hoping it would drop it's meal~

The image above was taken before the heavy clouds took over the evening before

I got up super early to go and get a good spot to photograph the Super Moon the other day.  Where we live there are just so many trees that get in the way of nice views.  Once I arrived at the selected spot, I parked the car, put down the window and nothing but heavy cloud coverage...oh well, I saw it, did you?

Dawn following the Super Moon setting~

Birds, Bison and Nature Painted Butterfly Wings~

We were going to visit with the in-laws of my oldest daughter Hillary one afternoon, and as we came around the curve before their property line, I snapped this Great Blue Heron, trying to hide from view.
For seven months now, I have been struggling with a pinched nerve in my neck.  The actual diagnosis that has been reviewed for me is called Cervical Radiculpathy and Cervical Spondylosis.  I went through six weeks of physical therapy that ended last January.  It had not done much, if anything to improve the constant feeling that I have an electrical current feeling going down my left arm, causing great tingling and sometimes numbness all the way from my neck into hand.  The only time that I have some relief, is when asleep.   All of this being stated, and after conversing with my Neurosurgeon and my family, as well as viewing online articles, we have decided for me to undergo a C5/6 Anterior Cervical Disectomy and Fusion on August 5, to hopefully correct the problem.  This is 80 to 90% effective and I am hoping to be in the majority and not the minority.  There will be 2 weeks of no driving, YIKES and no lifting, pulling, etc anything more than 5 pounds.  I would very much appreciate all good thoughts going up to get me through this time.  I appreciate each of you so very much.  I am so sorry that I had very limited time to access my desktop to be able to leave comments, but I was able to visit many of them and view the beauty from my laptop.  Have a wonderful week~ 

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slide show presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Add some rain, some Turk Cap Lily pollen and a Black Swallowtail Butterfly and you have a watercoloured Black Swallowtail.

It was really neat watching the butterfly get its wings drenched in colour from the pollen, as it took in nectar.

 The wings look like they had been dipped in magenta paint.

So beautiful!  

Sad, but oh so true!  This Red Fox vixen has Sarcoptic Mange and she will more than likely carry it to her kits and to any other fox member of her family.  This happens so much both in the country and the city and most of the times, the entire family is wiped out.  If there were only a few, then Have-A-Heart capturing of them and treatment for a few weeks would rid them of this disease, but it affects so many, and it is impossible to care for all of them.  These images are difficult to view, but it tells a story of nature that needs to be heard~

Yes, we have Buffalo/Bison in the state of Kentucky.  They used to roam this state many years ago and then they were gone.  Ranchers who raise them for their meat have brought many back into the state.  We had taken the dogs for a morning ride and stopped so that I could photograph them.  They were coming in my direction, when I decided to whistle for them.  Oh My, that was a mistake, as they turned and ran, no make that, they turned and stampeded away from me.  I hope the rancher did not see that~

Barn Swallows, baby Barn Swallows, what can I say, feathered hearts, that do amazing work, love, love them~

My neighbors Sue and Mona have lovely flowers in the Summer and I got these Skippers at Mona's~ 

Fritillary at Sue's home~

Black Swallowtails~  

One still beautifully formed, the others delicate wings torn and yet beauty still holds on~

Sue's dish plate sized Hibiscus~

This old house was quite interesting.  I had traveled further out into the county to have a day with 2 of my grands, Braden and Maci.  This place is on the back roads to their place, right in between 2 lovely homes.  I wonder what those walls would have to share, if the could speak~

I have shared Mona's garden in past, but every Summer, I enjoy walking across the lane to see what kinds of butterflies have come to sip the warm nectar from her garden flowers.  Here is some of her garden art~

Horace's Duskywing below was a first ever for me.  I really enjoyed it's beauty and watching it flitting about rather quickly.

Thank you to Eileen Hildt Wise for helping me with proper ID for this beautiful butterfly.

Just beneath the Duskywing is a sweet little Pearl Crescent Butterfly~

My 7 year old grandson Braden helps his little sister Maci Marette get down the steps to feed their pet pig Bella~

Maci loves our dogs and really loves her own dog, Lexi~

The bird nesting boxes have mostly been taken down by the good people of Foxhollow Farm.  OH SIGH!.  I always enjoy watching the many Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds that use these boxes~