Just a quick note ....

I just wrote a nice note, and lost it. I'm too tired to remember what I said. Lets see. Everything is on schedule for surgery at noon today. Thursday 22nd. I'm expecting to be home by Monday 26th. Then the real adventure begins.

Can you imagine me doing nothing and at the mercy of my children to help? I'm grateful that my brother-in-law volunteered to come. Maybe he can keep them under control! :-) However, they have all been a big help so far. I'm a lucky mom.

Going to miss my Gizmo for the few days. Sigh ...

See you in a few days, or a week or two ...

~J~

Surgery update ...

Since I wrote the quote below ...

"Hey, I got the call back from the Dr's office. Looks like only one to two days stay at the hospital, and at home I'll be expected to be up and around, walking a little, just no heavy or strenuous lifting, bending or twisting. Sounds like I'll be able to handle it all with no trouble. (This is optimism speaking ... don't tell me any different!)"

I have been on quite an emotional ride! I downloaded the informational material from the Front Range Center for Brain and Spine Surgery, P.C. web site, the site my Doctor is affiliated with, and promptly started visualizing myself in the post surgery requirements. OMG! So I scheduled an appointment with my Doctor, and had a very specific heart to heart.

My thoughts had become a concern for having the surgery heading into winter. While I can get help with feeding the horses, I might still have to let them out. Then snow and ice and things do come up when you are alone. Now I won't be alone to begin with. But we are talking about a two month period that has to way toned down for healing to progress without incident. And no one likes me that much!! My thoughts are too graphic ... don't remember getting much sleep at all!

By the time the Doctor and I finished, I got Doctor answers and not "generic" post op instruction possibilities. Him knowing me enough to help me understand where I might be during recovery, and not the generic public. I will still have to mind the two months of really slowed down activity, but I haven't been all that active since the lumbar region of my back took over my life.

So ... pre-op consultation with an anesthesia nurse will happen on the 20th of October. And the Surgery will take place on the 22nd of October. I will be in the hospital between two and four days depending on my stubborn gauge, then home. The batteries will be dead on all my vehicles before I get to use them again, but I guess I can live with that.

I'll write after the pre-op consult. It will be the last time for a while that I'll be able to sit at the computer. At least two weeks me thinks. I'll be back and pretty sassy soon enough. Enjoy your vacation from that!!

~J~

Buffalo cows and calf

I cannot believe that I slept in until almost 9 a.m.! It was so dark in the room. The same darkness that comes just before the sun peeks out from the east and blasts the bedroom with its radient Good Morning! Only today there was no sun out blasting or anything else. The sun has come out this afternoon, which I won't complain about, but it is weak, and there is still a dark overcast look in the north. 45 degrees today, which is also better!

Here is the little 4" x 5" watercolor painting that I said I'd post yesterday. Sorry ....

"Sunday in Sage"

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The Sun Came Out!

Greetings!! I don't think it ever got to 40 degrees here today, but the sun melted most of the snow. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to hit 45 degrees. Balmy!

For something a little lighter. Here is a small 4"x5" watercolor. I spotted the buffalo on my way to Pinedale, Wyoming for an art show, and had to stop and take pictures. There is a mate to this one with cow buffalo and a calf. You have to wait until tomorrow for that one. Enjoy ...

"Serenity and Sage"

~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

More snow on the Prairie

I got up to 18 degrees and it was snowing. Almost an inch then, and now maybe almost two inches, and it is almost stopped. I was just sitting in the family room bundled up with a hot cup of coffee and watching golf of TV. Beautiful green fairways and greens and ... thought this is so wrong ... So, let me take you back to September 24th.

I woke up and got to my morning things. Fluffing up the bed, dressing, teeth and hair etc., and when I came out to the kitchen to start coffee, I saw two police cars in my back driveway facing the barn. Coffee forgotten, out I went to see what the heck was going on. The police cars were running but there was no one around, so went into the barn, and there was a very large, white GMC - SUV standing will all the doors wide open. Still no police, or anyone else for that matter.

I went out to the camper where my son was staying. Theresa answered the door and she didn't know anything ... said a guy stuck his head in the camper door and said he was going to do some wiring and left. She woke my son up, who, in his sleep, only heard something about wiring. So now the three of us are out back and another police car drove in.

Seems as though the first two police cars were off chasing the two car thieves who put the SUV in my barn. Probably to strip. The police had spotted them early enough to catch at least one of the guys. By now, there were a couple more officers and cars who divided the three of us up so we "couldn't collaborate our stories." Before all was said and done, there were easily 10 police cars in my yard and driveway.


Since they caught the thieves, they called the owners of the stolen vehicle and they came to inspect their car and drive it home. They were more than a little upset that someone would walk into their garage and just drive their car away. About three hours later we were down to just one policeman and car who was wrapping things up.

Just this last week I noticed that the exit port on my camper was open. Actually it looked like the wind had blown it open and broke the hinge edge. I didn't take a serious look right away, but when I did, I discovered that it had been torn open by what had to be one of the thieves looking for a place to hide. He didn't actually get into the camper, but the damage was done. Pictures below show his huge sneaker prints in the dust on the hood of my little Toyota so he could reach up and tear the hatch off.

This is the hatch torn off of its hinges.

This is a CSI thing. That sneaker was slightly over 12" long from toe to heel!

More hands and feet all over my little Toyota Truck. The camper is in my barn which has a dirt floor. With the horses, and me, in and out, dust is always kicked up. Glad it was there for a change or might not have proven that one of the thieves did the damage to the hatch!

One of the police cars. The one behind it is the second large GMC SUV that the owner of the stolen one came to claim. His and Hers SUV's. While they were scared; after all they were at home and had kids in the house when the SUV was stolen, they were lucky to get their vehicle back as quickly as they did, and with no real damages.

It certainly makes you wonder what will happen next. Thieves are getting so bold. My son had seen the one thief once, and that was all it took for the guy to know about my barn and think he could help himself to my property for his own purposes. The following week, my neighbor across the intersection had a pickup full of guys walk into her barn moving things around and haltering the horses and opening stalls. My grandson had just gone there to care for his horses and caught them. Luckily they ran to the pick up and took off. (They were his horses.)

At first I considered a security camera system, but that is a little more expensive than I can handle right now, so am going to look into a buzzer that will sound in the house when ever a car drives in or out. There was a time I would have never believed these measures would ever be necessary.

Snow on the Colorado Prairie

I promised updates so I guess it is about time I got to it. I'll start with right now. It is about 38 degrees outside and it is snowing. You know, those huge wet flakes that are probably a dozen flakes all holding hands and coming down together. Like those crazy folks who jump out of airplanes and do the same thing. Good grief ~!~ It isn't supposed to do this sort of thing until the kids are all dressed up for Halloween!

Okay, I do have a date for my back surgery. Will be October 22nd. But in Loveland, not at the hospital here. While I have no worries where the Doctor is concerned, I'm not at all thrilled to be away from "home" for the surgery. Going to be more than just a little imposition on friends and family. And I have to go way out there for a pre-surgery consult on the 20th. I have calls in for information so I can make plans. Like how long will I be in the hospital, don't think this will be an out-patient procedure like my knee was, but so far no response. Would like to know what my restrictions will be at home too. Can't plan help if I don't know. However, I have a very good offer from Kansas.

My son moved out and is in an apartment now, but came back yesterday to do his laundry. And he isn't even in college. Of course he has to come here to have the space to work on his vehicles. Put monster tires on his truck the other day. I had to ask if he needed a ladder to get in it, "Not quite," he said.

Hey, I got the call back from the Dr's office. Looks like only one to two days stay at the hospital, and at home I'll be expected to be up and around, walking a little, just no heavy or strenuous lifting, bending or twisting. Sounds like I'll be able to handle it all with no trouble. (This is optimism speaking ... don't tell me any different!)

I'm going to catch you up on the current stories, one post at a time. So that is that for this one.

~J~

Cat Nappin'

This Bobcat, or Lynx, is a small 4" x 6" watercolor painting. He actually doesn't look all that pleased that I have intruded on his space. But he has one ear "watching" me, and the other ear is keeping track of the sounds coming from behind him. The Bobcat has been successfully reintruduced in Colorado, after a slow start. What a beautiful coat of fur.

Good news, my brace is off after knee surgery, and I am improving. Therapy will be starting soon. Can't say I'm looking forward to that.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Rascally Racoon

This is a little 3 1/2" x 5" watercolor painting. It was a commission from my sister to give to her daughter. This is a pretty young guy and fun to paint. Fur going every which-a-way, you can tell he scampered up that tree in a hurry. Once safe, he set his evil eye on you not to come any closer. Racoon's are fun to watch, but sure can be a nuisance.

This last spring we had some really nasty winds along with very hard rain falls mixed with hail. I was on the porch watching the storm when out of the "fog" of the dense rain came a racoon running as fast as he could in that odd gait of theirs, with his tail to the storm. He was literally being pushed by the wind. When it was all over, here he came lumbering back in the opposite direction.

Racoon's are fun to paint as they never lack for entertaining expressions.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

A Great photo of Lynn - Her Creative Side!

This is one of my favorite Lynn Thomas photos. One she sent as we were getting to know each other. I don't have a date, guessing 1955ish, (15) but it clearly shows Lynn's creative side ... and a patient dog ...

Good bye my friend Lynn Thomas

My dear friend and mentor Lynn Thomas passed away early this morning, August 25, 2009.
I will miss her.
Her husband Joe and her many friends will miss her.
Sparky and Raven will miss her.

Below is a letter I wrote to Lynn, which her daughters were gracious enough to read to her.

"A Matter of Days"

I opened your blog today and all I saw was "A Matter of Days." As I stared at the words, slowly, my tears joined Judi's and memories came out of the blur.
A matter of days __ We've only known, (had contact), each other for a matter of days. My first WAOAW show in Scottsdale many, many years ago. Then a WAOAW show at PaJo's. I was drawn over and over to your painting of a frontier woman hanging out her wash. I was in awe of its beauty and the emotion welling up in me as I folded myself into it. In awe of you, I hung back to listen as you talked, too bashful to approach.

Then I came to visit you at your house on the muddy. It was like we had visited together regularly all our lives. You toured me around your beautiful end of the world. I left as in awe of you as before __ only different. We really were friends, admiring and enjoying each other. There is no one else I am this close to. Because of you, my art is better. My poetry is better. The way I see the world around me is more colorful and more intense. What a love and friendship that developed in only "a matter of days."

I can only imagine how deep the love you share with all the Angels who now hover around you. Angels with whom you have lived and touched over many years.
Thank you my Dear Sweet Lynn for allowing me into your big heart.

Judy (~J~)