Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The adventure of getting tangled up in life

   It's been a while since I last blogged. A lot has transpired over the last couple of months or year I should say. Hubby's second rotator cuff surgery for the year. A repair of a massive tear this time. (Long story.) Then I had a bad back problem for the last few months that hindered my ability to sit at my computer. That was very difficult because I missed my writing time.
    So here I am after missing late summer adventures, fall adventures and now wanting the late fall/early winter adventures, but my back doesn't allow for the car rides yet. Thoughts and ideas continued to roll around inside my head, especially now that I can spend a bit of time in my computer chair. I asked my friends what kind of blog post they'd like to see and the most votes came up for elk in my backyard adventures. While we do see elk out our windows often, our best bet is up the canyon.

Elk out our front window.

   One thing I just did not want to miss was the fall rut of the Elk in our area. So we went out looking after we heard they were just up the road every night. A short car ride I figured I could handle. I was pleasantly surprised at what we found.
   Notice the chimes hanging off his antler? Listen carefully and it even clinks as he walks.
   Elk are funny creatures. The males get pretty...well...down right stupid during the rut. If something ticks them off or is just in their way, or quite frankly if they just want to work off some...uh....frustration, they nod those big ol' antlers into the object of their scorn and just rip. It can be quite comical.

   This one just got done annihilating a cattail bed. There had been other males around, all bugling, and the frustration and determination of this guy got the best of him. Apparently they have no comprehension of looking ridiculous. He wore the grass like his reward or crown. My guess is the girls had to be laughing. I know we were.
   Now the problem of decorating antlers isn't exclusive to the elk herds. We are also often visited by the mule deer of the area. Just a couple weeks ago we spotted this guy. Whoever started their Christmas decorating early is missing something. Or perhaps these lights were left somewhere from last Christmas. At any rate, he's ready for Christmas.
   I know what you're thinking. Can't someone help them by removing all this paraphernalia? Not to worry. They all shed those antlers so then they can start fresh next year and find some other articles to decorate with.
   As I thought about writing this post, I also thought about how it relates to my life. Surprisingly, I can relate, but in a different way.
   When we are overwhelmed with frustrating times like  physical disability, or several problems with our injured bodies, we may feel like thrashing our way around and ripping and pulling at the things that confine and restrain us. I know we have struggled with those feelings. Pain is a challenging thing to deal with leading to discouragement, dismay, feelings of never getting out of this situation, and quite frankly a bit of depression.
   So what does one do with all of those emotions? For one thing, desperately hang onto a sense of humor. Sometimes you have to. And then sometimes life just lets things happen that you can only laugh at.
   One day I managed to get some hamburger patties into a pan for lunch. Now understand that we've spent months looking at each other and saying, "Which one of us is up to cooking today?" Usually it was neither one of us, with him in a sling and me spending most of my time flat on my back. So... the hamburgers are in the pan, I hobble my way into the fridge for the onion, at least I wasn't using a cane at this point in time. I shut the fridge which is butted up to the side of the stove, the shake of the door shutting wobbles the large woc off the top of the fridge which lands on the FULL tea kettle sitting on the upper part of the stove. It, of course, tips over pouring water across the stove top putting out the burner under my burgers. The tea kettle falls against my wonderful Whirley Pop popcorn maker and shoots it across the stovetop into the burger pan sending it flying to the floor. Burgers flying up into the air and promptly landing on the floor.
   Remember the game Mouse Trap? Yeah, the burgers landing on the floor went much faster than the game. And the racket it all made was deafening! What could I do? I sure wasn't able to stop the frantic destruction occuring on my stovetop. My hands flew out to the side as I watched the entire stovetop going into self-clean mode. Certain vocabulary words that shouldn't be used did flash through my brain, then I wanted to do some of that head thrashing against anything and everything, then I stopped, looked at the scene as the remaining tea kettle water splooshed out of the spout in rhythm to the radio. I just stood there and laughed. And laughed. And dove ahead of my dog to save the burgers. Not an easy task when you can't bend over without starting back spasms. The five second rule was going to apply that day. (If it's only on the floor for five seconds, it's safe to eat.) (Stop "ewwwing". I wiped them off.)
   I stood there gazing upon the scene on top of my stove. Water filled the indented areas where the burners sit on both sides. The popper, the tea kettle and the woc all sitting in haphazard positions. I grabbed towels to blot it all up so I could relight the burner under our lunch, all the while chuckling.
   During circumstances like these, I tend to start up a conversation with God. I could have stood there banging my head against the wall crying "Why me Lord..." or I can choose the path of laughter instead. It's a much better way to go. That old saying "Laughter is the best medicine" held true for me that day.
   And I know someday, Ron and I will look back at the year of 2011 and laugh at how ridiculous it was for both of us to be laid up for so long. Our thankfulness to our church family, my physical therapist, daughter and son-in-law for the help and meals and all the other ways folks came to minister to us will grow in our hearts.
   We're on the back side of most of the struggle now. There is a light. And knowing THE Light (Jesus) has helped us get through it and He will continue to get us through whatever else life throws our way. Cuz life is FULL of adventures.
   Happy Thanksgiving everyone!