Rosie’s good news, plants and plans

well rosie’s good news is she is walking, using her litter pan, and even sneaking into my arms in bed at night:)

that’s rosie and young dandelion.
whew, i lost the month of february folks. sending you all love and apologize for missing out on so much you all did in blogland! i spend about 8 hours a day at dylan’s house during the week, and when i was home and had chores done, i spent alot of time in this closet with rose marie. when she was still so crippled she drug her legs, i shut the door during the day (its louvered), just because i was so afraid she would get hurt worse if dande decided to play chase with her again. when i was home, i would leave it open and was able to  monitor. at first, she was totally incontinent both ways and that was an around the clock effort to keep her both clean and bathed and the laundry done! as she seemed stronger, did gentle little exercises with her legs and feet, and nice whole body massages. when she made those first overtures at trying to stand a bit, i put a small shallow box with the side out in the far corner of the cleaned out closet for her litter tray. what a celebration it was when she first went poop in it:) and then when i found her bathing her own nether regions… i was over the moon.  than i started gently holding her up with my hands under her weak rear end and gently putting the lame leg in the proper stance, while supporting it, thinking to help train those muscles and nerves. with rosie being older i figured she probably had a bit of what some older people get with an injury. those times when she would move without thinking and the times when she still acted like she did when it first happened. slowly, slowly she improved. then suddenly… she disappeared! yup folk, just up and disappeared on me! well….. last week i woke up at 4 in the morning ( i tried to get up every two hours to turn the heating pad back on in her little bedroom closet), stumbled into my den and no rosie. the basement door was cracked open as the cats can run around down there also and apparantly she decided to take a walk! i hunted for 45 minutes down there and up here and never did find her. she just suddenly came tearing ass up the basement stairs kind of running on the bum leg and kind of dragging it! wow, did i feel more grey hairs. i am trying to keep that door closed unless i am right here in the kitchen till she gets a bit better. well now she is walking around a bit steadier and kind of jumping clawing her way in bed with me and i am feeling better about her recovery. she still has a little bit of urinary incontinence (hope that doesn’t happen in my bed!) i stopped giving her comfrey when she first started to walk a bit and have eased off her couch grass/cleavers and am going to explore something to help tone her bladder/urinary tract now that we have forestalled a uti(still being watchful of that though). will keep you all posted on how she does and might even be able to catch up a bit with you all now that i am not constantly in the closet!lol i guess the kind of herbalist i am is like graham greene’s character, leonard, in the series northern exposure! lol i gotta keep close to my patients;)
on to plants…. the gardens aren’t doing much yet. still alot of snow. but i did find…fern

…feverfew

…several kinds of mint

…and some lambs ear (natures bandaids)

we had our second herb club meeting and it was great. several more people showed up and everyone showed genuine enthusiasm for herbal medicine and wildforaging:) we each chose an herb to talk on next month and i chose dandelion and violets as most folks knew a bit about dandelions and really nothing about violets, and both should be going good by then.
i have been rearranging things around here for my convenience on my herbal studying also. i have moved my puter right onto the kitchen table from my den. that way it is right here when i need to look up something while doing my chores, or to listen to one of the many herb videos available on the net. convenient to be able to listen to the herbmentor videos and lessons.Also moved some of my books onto a shelf that used to have knick knacks on it
before

after

i already had managed to squeeze a few book shelf spots into the kitchen before


my den is right next to my kitchen, but my kitchen is where i hang and any steps i can save, is more time to be either cooking or studying;-) anyway, i was running out of shelf space on the den bookshelves, lol. need to get in that room and do some more stuff before i post pics of it. i have taken so many book and put them in boxes in the basement. alot of my nature story books and others i can’t bare to part with, but need the space for my bee and herb/wildforaging books in there now.




got to see my first 3D movie this weekend. my husband knew i loved the movie avatar when i saw it, so took me to see it in 3D! totally cool! got about 12 inches cut off my hair the day before so here is me in my 3D glasses and with a new hairdo!

little things can brighten a day this time of year. we are just now starting to have a few sunny days and a bit of melt. this little dust pan i found at the goodwill made me smile ( i needed it too!)

spring is coming! there are so many reassuring signs. one being the snow geese migration

well, i must go make our supper now. i am having squash with hickory syrup:) making my hubby some wild caught salmon. sent him shopping at the river for cottonwood bark and willow branches. i haven’t even had time to the herbal recipes and projects from february’s issue of herbal roots zine yet! love and hugs to all of you who visit comfrey cottages