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March 2, 2017: Making Connections: Still Ill

I am still sick, have actually hit a plateau of sorts. The view at the top is limited, I am eager to begin my ascent back into wellness. I must be patient. Colds run their course and this one is not going to be an exception. It’s moving at a very slow, but steady pace. I don’t need to go into detail about what symptoms are at this given point in time, that’s time and energy wasted.

I hit an all-time low last night. Pete came in from doing chores – I was huddled around the woodstove – his glasses were fogged up – said in a very loud voice that Sophie had died. It took a moment for her news to register because colds create a time lag. Sophie was our Brahman-cross



chicken. I of course then and now feel really bad about this – animal deaths around here are of great import.

I will write her a eulogy in the next few days. And I am going to take time and think about her, and her life. She was, with her three mates, destined for the stew pot because she had ceased to lay eggs. She was not our brightest chicken, but she was a good sport about most things. And she was a good companion for Freebird who is now all alone. I emailed our friends at Sun Circle Farm, and they are going to provide me with a new mate for Freebird. The chickens that we’ve gotten from them in the past have been well socialized by the kids, so they are a lot of fun to have around. Sophie was somewhat socialized, but not to the degree that Red Hen and Snooki and Henrietta were, all Sun Circle birds. Yes, I have to think more about Sophie because animals around here don’t leave their earthly bodies until I do this.

Back to the story at hand – the cold was such that I felt it swirl around my feet as I prepared to take a shower. Then, when I got in the shower, I was hit with a blast of cold water. I let out a wail and Pete came running. He fixed the shower so that the water came out lukewarm. This was okay, although my feet remained cold as I took the shower because the tub bottom had not warmed up.

I had a rough night –I hacked and coughed and wheezed and complained about the fact that it hurt to swallow. I know that I kept Pete awake. But he did not complain, not once. Our neighbor Judy Donegan once remarked that he was the most cheerful person she has ever met. I have to agree –having a sick mate who is a wuss is a cross to bear.

This morning there was less wind –the ongoing, incessant dull roar that we hear for hours on end when there are high winds was no longer; however, it was still pretty blowsy out there. I got up right after Pete went out to do morning chores, got online and saw that the February online agility scores had been posted. Raudi placed first at advanced level this month, and Hrimmi placed second in first level. Raudi’s having come in first is a major accomplishment – first of all, it is the advanced level. And secondly, we had some figurative obstacles to deal with. We had to move the literal obstacles from the snowed -in upper arena to the driveway. The space we were working in was a bit cramped. We had to deal with the snowplow. I was not feeling well. And there was the snowplow. In the video you can see that Raudi is just a little distracted by it. Sometimes she’s up for agility and sometimes not. This time she was not.

Now there are two things that were in our favor, the first was that my posture was better for having done the Bones for Life training. And the second was that Raudi and I had practiced this course numerous times. Her having to walk ahead of me through the L-bend, that was tough. And her having had to walk ahead of me through the L-bend, stop and trot, that was tougher. She did not trot. I was so tired I did not care. After, I told Pete, the patient Videographer, that I we shouldn’t consider bagging this month’s video because we did so poorly. But he went and posted it anyways. You just never know.

Here is the connection part of this dispatch – I have been reading Norman Doidge’s The Brain's Way of Healing – this is the first book in which I have found a comprehensible overview of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais. And this information is couched in a very comprehensible biography. This chapter, and as well as the rest of the book, further affirmed that there are important connections to be made between human and horse body awareness. In April I’ll do an agility workshop, incorporating Feldenkrais/Bones for Life work into the mix.

So today, now, I am housebound, and trying to keep my spirits up. I am like a horse that has been confined to its stall. It’s difficult to be in this box. But colds gotta run their course. I have to keep reminding myself of this.

Next: 62. March 3, 2017: The Writing Life: Post Op

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