I haven’t been here for almost a year, and I could boor you with all the reasons, but you’ve probably heard them from others, or more likely felt them yourself. Depression and the Covid mess should about cover it. So onward and forward with last month:
Having realized that by the 20th of November it will have been a whole year to the day, I tried last month to write a new post… Block wall… Fish out of water…
SUDDEN REALIZATION:
Um, the old editor is really gone for good? Argh…(angry words -delete-delete-delete) Bad news!
But, I’m forging ahead this month in the hope it goes well when I do hit the post button.
In early summer I ordered ten baby ducklings, the minimum order, and they arrived in August. I lost two in the delivery process and one, about a month later, due to failure to thrive . When they were feathered and large enough for a daily romp in the garden, I then made sure to shore up the spaces between the gates and fence with three gallon painter buckets from Home Depot. Runner ducks are tall and very svelte. October gave us a very blustery night with raging wind and a bit of rain. Unbeknownst to me, the wind had picked up one of the buckets and blew it away. And so it was that one wayward soul, discovering the space between the gate and fence, went through that space looking for greener pastures, and found Walker instead. The buckets are now weighted down with a very heavy stone in the bottom!
My garden was a bust. Tomatoes never set fruit, potatoes, sweets, red and russet just didn’t grow. I did get tons of green beans as well as a new Jalapeno called “Nadapeno” which has no fire. Although the fruits of this pepper were many, they weren’t very exciting. Yet, my face did not turn red, so I guess there is that.
Last year I closed the middle finger on my right hand in the kitchen drawer. It hurt, but never blackened or fell off. Good I thought. But then, over the summer, a strange lump grew out from under my cuticle and it was large enough to cause a great groove in my fingernail. My Primary Dr. freaked out and sent me to have it checked for cancer. The Derm/cancer specialist said it was just a cyst and sent me to my hand surgeon. He explained that the drawer exacerbated the osteoarthritis in the joint, caused a leak of fluid at the base of my nail, which caused the cyst, which deformed the nail. He ordered surgery. The cyst was cut and will grow out with my nail, and the bone was cleaned of the arthritic bits. My finger looks like it belongs to Frankenstein’s monster at the moment and now has a titanium screw through that offending joint. The following image is the ex-ray of the offending and hugely swollen finger.
Apologies if you find it offensive, but the position provided the best imaging for the surgeon and shows the swelling as well. This was on October 28th. The swelling is now greatly reduced, and some of the feeling is coming back to the tip of my finger, but not yet to the bit behind the cuticle.
So far this month, Bob is building the ducks a hut to sleep in at night. Currently, they are still in the barn at night and sleeping in a 4ft. wide kiddie pool with straw in the bottom and wire fencing to keep them in.
If it doesn’t rain I’ll show you how I get them from the barn to the other side of the house in the morning! I find it very entertaining
Life on the Farmlet 
Well, there was quite a lot of excitement in your return to posting. The finger picture was unusual to say the least. I hope that the ducks get somwhere suitable to sleep at night.
They will Tom, Bob is a good builder. Ha, he works with AutoCad at work and has his own copy at home. He had the whole thing planned, prepped and cut before he even started the build! It’s going together like a kit, but with better wood in the production. 😀 And thanks for being the first to comment. It feels good to be back but it will take a bit of getting used to the new “block editor” Very clunky, and not so intuitive, at least for me.
I agree about the new editor but it has some benefits too when you get used to it. It is not really designed for modest bloggers like you and me though.
One good benefit was widget box editor. That really was a much easier process! I may find others down the line, but I just barely made it through this post using the new one. 😛
First, it’s wonderful to see you back, albeit with that poor finger. It sounds like your recovery will be complete, though; that’s always good news. Years ago, I had a cyst on the back of my right hand that grew to the size of a small marble. One day, I went swinging through a doorway, hit that cyst on the doorframe, and smashed it into pieces. The pain was excruciating, but only for about five seconds. Then, it was gone — amazing, really.
I love the thought of a duck hut. My compliments to the builder! I have a friend who’s used AutoCad for some time, and he thinks it’s the best thing ever.
As for the editor, many of us are still using the old/Classic editor. There is a way to get back to it, even though WordPress has hidden it away. I have the instructions in my files. If you’d like them (and they’re quite simple) just drop me an email at varnishgal at that gmaily thing and I’ll send them to you.
Or I could add the instructions for getting to the old editor here, but I didn’t want to clog up your blog.
Hahaha! Clog away, I’ve been gone so long I can spare the space, and I am sure there are other’s who would like them! I searched and searched to no avail.
Well, WP has eliminated my ‘back door’ into the classic, but there still are ways to do it. Click on “My Sites” in the upper left, and scroll down to the Posts icon. Click there, then click on “All Posts”. At that point, DO NOT click on “Add New” in the menu that opens. That will take you to the block editor. Instead, click on the drop-down menu arrow next to “Add New” at the top of the page. That will open an option for either the Classic or the block editor. Click on “Classic” and you’re good to go.
Linda, the finger (bone pain) is much better, but the pin doesn’t like the cold! I hope that is a healing thing and will go away. The skin and tissue issues are better but still not good. Won’t go all gory on you, but it’s a bit stingy. Apparently, this particular cyst could be drained, but it can also grow back. An accidental incident proved that before I went to the Dr. I guess the arthritis in the joint made the fluid that kept it there. Strangely, the groove in the nail puts a lot of pressure on the nail bed and that, while not excruciating, is very uncomfortable. I do hope it grows out. I’ve read rumors that it sometimes remains.
The duck hut will be very sturdy and functional. Bob is not the cutesy builder like you see in all the blogs online. You know the ones with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, curtains in the windows and pictures on the wall inside? Get real! Chickens make a filthy dusty mess of everything in the there. I am expecting no less mess from the ducks. 😉
And thank you for the map to Classic! Getting to it reminded me of scene from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Wherein Arthur Dent is outraged that the people on earth never got warning that it was to be demolished for a “…hyperspatial express route through [our] star system.” Wherein he was advised:
“There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.”
I believe in the BBC series he was told they were in a sub basement in the back behind a filing cabinet…?
Progress. Ay whot?
Good to hear from you! Sorry about that finger,looks rather ouchy… hope it doesn’t become a weather forecaster like some of my joints in my toes. Love to see your ducks, never raised runners.
Deb, it is much better now, though you wouldn’t think it to see it. I don’t know about a weather forecaster, but it sure doesn’t like the cold when out in the morning doing chores! I do hope that is a temporary thing… buying warm, woolly, winter gloves this weekend. Ducks are on my phone and now I have to remember the process to get it off the phone. LOL!
Well done on the block baptism by fire. It’s horrid, isn’t it! Not sure we like the price of progress… Your finger escapade looks frightening. Glad the swelling is going down and the feelings coming back. Hope you do manage to record the antics with the ducks!
Annie, It is horrid! Although I did appreciate how easy it made working on widgets. I’ve had two people give me instructions here for finding the classic: Shoreacres above and Katechiconi below. It works!
Regarding the finger, well it really wasn’t so bad as I imagined, but not so good as I might have wished. I had a strange reaction to the Oxycodone (generic percocet). Two doses and I was swimmingly dizzy and very nauseated. Never again! Thankfully, arthritis strength acetaminophen kept it amazingly bearable!
Ducks are in my phone… now I have to get them out. 😉
We loved the ducks! Glad you’ve found a painkiller that doesn’t know you over.
I’ve struggled through the block editor all along, but they have made a few improvements along the way. It was just frustrating in the beginning. I’m glad you figured it out! It’s so good to see a post from you! I’ve missed you!
I can well imagine how you “duck” herd your little tribe from point A to point B. Ha ha! I watched you herd the geese that week I visited. It was a delight to observe… and of course I fell in love with so much of your morning routine – Buddy at my feet especially. Do you still have many chickens and any guineas? I’m down to 26 hens and old Dale the rooster – he’s got to be fifteen years old at least. We’re going through the molt right now so 3 to 5 eggs a day. 😦
Lori, thank you, I’ve missed being here. One year was bad, but going on two years is simply over the top. That’s what’s had me in a deep blue funk. Winter has me a bit worried, but being out in the sun, even when it is cold is the best medicine. And while my summer garden was a fail, I have learned to winter garden, and found success even with frost and snow!
About those duckies, well, they are nothing like my ornery geese. Geese need herding, but ducks just need a bribe. Most of the time they just march themselves in a line right on over to the other side of the yard. When I get there they get animated and demanding.
I reduced my flock to three laying hens. I had to because with Covid I couldn’t even give the eggs away anymore. And then there are the feed costs. When I ordered the ducks I had no clue that feed would jump to $20.00 a 50lb bag. RIDICULOUS! Sigh.
Guineas are no more. I would love to have them again, but they don’t stay put like my other poultry and fowl. It’s gotten a bit weird around here. More on that in another post.
HA! Molting. Why do they always molt right before the weather gets COLD? JFR, my rooster is molting right now. He always looks so beautiful in his shiny, new black feathers. He’s not quite there yet, but almost! Shorter days, means that we are getting about 3 or 4 eggs per week. I’m not complaining, because that is plenty for us.
I do love Walker, but I really miss Buddy. No one who met him failed to say what a great dog he was. He was one in a million.
Welcome back! And no, the Classic Editor isn’t *completely* gone, it’s just hiding. If you go to the My Sites menu bar on the left, go down to posts, and where it says Add New in the top bar, you’ll see there’s a scroll-down button. If you use that, you’ll see Classic Editor as an option. It works as it always did. Do not click on the Write or button, as that will lead you into the Block Editor maze. Do not click on Add New in the side bar. If you need to edit a draft, ensure you do so using the Classic Editor option. If you do all that, you’ll be OK.
Sorry for the tribulations of the last year. You have been missed, and I hope we’ll hear from you more often going forward. I for one want to see photos of your ducks – Runners always look so earnest and keen!
Kate, I had a response to your comments almost done and ready to hit enter, when my computer decided to reboot and make updates. That’s what I get for answering comments at 4:30 in the AM! (I couldn’t sleep)
Between you and Shoreacres above, I did get back into the classic editor; thank you! And although I haven’t completed it yet, I do have a post for Scrap Happy this month… a bit off beat, but still using “scrap” for an important garden item. Hope you like it. 😉
I’m sure I will, and your mishap is exactly why i don’t let my computer do auto-updates! Glad you’re back in Classic and finding it all a bit easier. Not sure what I’m going to do when the turn it off, but I suppose we’ll all go silent for a while as we struggle to learn how to use it.
“… I suppose we’ll all go silent for a while as we struggle to learn how to use it.”
I’m certain of it.
So nice to hear from you Lynda ! Things have not been easy for you but I hope better days will come.
The X-ray of your hand make me think of E.T when he pointed his finger to go home!
Wish you all the Best and I am
waiting for pictures of docks and shell !
Chatou
Thank you, Chatou, It feels good to be back… I think it’s going to stick this time. OH, E.T.! Now you’ve reminded me, I think I would like to find the video and see it again. And, ducks are up! I posted them this afternoon. Oh, and finger is better and better each day.
Ducks….
Lovely to hear from you Lynda and I’m sorry you’ve had a hard time of it over the past year. I’m not ‘feeling it’ for blogging at the moment and I can’t even think of a reason why.
What a drama with your finger! I hope it doesn’t cause you too many problems in the future and I’m looking forward to seeing the morning duck parade.
As others have said, you can still easily access the classic editor once you know where to look but maybe you’ve found your way round the new one now and can instruct us all if and when they force us to change as I expect they will at some point,
Thank you, Lynn, I have no explanation for my shutdown, but recognize your comment about not “feeling it”. It seems strange to me that I took pictures, made videos, about the fun and interesting (maybe only to me) things going on here, and never posted them. I call that just ODD. I will be slipping some of them in over the next months because I still want to share them, even if late. AND, I found the classic, so let the fun begin! 🙂
Nice to see lots of feedback – a proper ‘welcome back’ greeting! We manage to find the workaround to get to Classic, but I find that to open it later and edit/tweak, it almost always puts that darn Block up, and then it asks,’ Are you sure you want to use Classic?’ as if we didn’t remember that we selected it – and not Block!
Block, I think could be somewhat manageable if one doesn’t use many photos, but it seems to be a major pain for uploading and placing them. With Classic you can select a handful and upload them at once, and if it’s an option for Block I’ve not found it.
Today I was in the country – and way high on a ridge, driving a remote gravel road, we rounded a curve and saw about six guineas – first to see in this country. I told my friends that I remembered what great night watchmen they make, and I attempted to mock their loud sound.
It’s late and I’d best get some sleep! Good to see you back!
Lisa, I thought I was going to be stuck with Block, but received plenty of helpful directions to get back to Classic. Whew!
Photo uploading is so much easier I agree. I really think they are trying to limit our posting of photos. I also missed the ability to upload them in sets of thumbnails to click and view in sequence. I hope this is still available to us. I haven’t got that far in my rediscovery.
I have been in a rush to get things done here such as new posts, fall cleanup, studio cleanup and organization, and more! I feel as though a fire has been set under me and I just have to keep going before I lose my steam.
I also feel very rusty here at my computer. I have been living too much inside my head and it is affecting my communication skills. It is good to be back, I do miss my guineas, and hope you got some good and restful sleep. ❤
here it’s one day at a time.. and to stay calm and know that it’s ‘one day at a time…’ there are other times, yes, when we get a boost of internal energy – and we use it… i enjoy those cleaning sprees and could use one after all of the preparation for the show – then i sort of collapsed and do little except rest when home. tonight i’m up late again and catching up on birding details…
but now it’s sleep time. yes, send some of those rich yellow-yolked eggs in this direction!
While I can’t send you the eggs, I can send you a blessing for rest and health to keep you going through all your brilliant work. You really are sensitive and gifted artist. ❤
You are a lovely and sensitive person as well. I hope that people realize what is important is love for our fellow man, and to put ego and fear out of the story. Alas, we can hope…
The next time I’m cracking an egg, I’ll send a smile in your direction – and your blessings will go into whatever I’m cooking! Love, Lisa
Do you feel me smiling from so far away? I am. ❤
It’s always a gift to put a smile in another’s heart. Sending another right now at almost 7 pm – from the equator!