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"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
- Unknown

"That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."
- Handed down through the ages.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid."
- John Wayne



Pictures!

Hi!  It's a GORGEOUS day here in northeastern Minnesota but cool (10 degrees last I looked), but the sun promises to warm everything up and cause more melt-melt-melting today!

I am going to post pictures of the finches and some other stuff, but, first, I wanted to comment on something I received in my Inbox this morning from an old, automated calendar:  today is the 2 year anniversary of what I now term The Beginning of the End!

It was March 11, 2009 when the ex had his horrible bike (bicycle) accident while out visiting friends in Sedona, Arizona.  Five "shattered" ribs, a badly broken clavicle, and a collapsed lung.  But, why The Beginning of the End?

Well, that January, he'd expressed the need to go somewhere to "find himself".  He thought he might find the answers he needed among the red rocks of Sedona.  But, the second day there, he had this accident and I was flying out to help him through his 5-day hospital stay . . . followed by several days at the home of the friends' there who'd he'd been visiting . . . and then, when the doc approved him for travel, the slow, 5-day drive home through Colorado blizzards.  We arrived home on April 1st where we were greeted by an April's Fool late winter dumping of the heaviest, wettest snow you've ever seen . . . and were snowbound for 9 days until, on the 9th day, a friend rode a snowmobile in to take the ex out.


But, again, I digress.  I think that March marked the beginning of the final year of our marriage which wasn't really, a marriage at all.  At least, not the healthy kind.  Sure, we went to counseling, we thought we were working on it.  But, one of us wanted out.  In a big way.  Fast forward to the following January, and the ex left Swamp River Ridge.  As I've said before and will say again, we're both happier now that we ARE divorced, so maybe the ex deserves props for leaving?  (Well, that certainly doesn't sound right, but I think [hope] you know what I mean.  Everything in hindsight and all that rot.)

I was later told that some people expected that the ex's Sedona trip would result in him never coming home!  They thought that "trip to find himself" was his way of leaving.  I had no clue!  I knew he wasn't happy, but I thought it was just a particularly low "low" in his clinical depression.

And, who knows?  Without the accident, maybe it would have been (his way of leaving).  We certainly tried to work on things a lot during the long, quiet days of recuperation down there and then in the months to follow.

Anyway, today's date just struck me, that's all.  And I thought I'd share.  :)


IN OTHER NEWS (please, let's cheer us all up!) . . . pictures!


Here's a shot of the latest snowstorm from Monday when I was preparing to leave for an overnight shopping trip in the big city.  Doesn't Maisy look THRILLED?

The new snowmobile warning signs are there in the snow . . . so are a pair of snowshoes!  I grabbed them all out before the snow completely buried them.


The house Monday morning.  Hard to believe that this will all be a jungle of green in a few months!  I took all these shots at nearly high noon:  doesn't look too light-n-bright out, does it?!
Before I left that day, I had to unload 400# of grain from the 1-Ton into the garage before those sacks, too, were buried in snow.

Okay, I'd meant to get finch pictures up this AM, but my day's running away from me.  You'll just have to look forward to them come my next post!  :)

7 comments:

  1. Where on god's green earth did you get that header photo?! It may be my favorite photograph of all time! It is so much 'fun' peeking into your exciting life...

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  2. And I wanted to add that you are so amazingly solid about the whole process, hindsight or not. I am glad you and the ex are still 'friends' - it is so important, to me, that there is a positive out of every painful experience. You are quite something.

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  3. Oh, Susan, you're SO sweet: "peeking into my life"! I LOVE that! That *IS*, after all, what we're all doing, right (we bloggers): providing a peek into our lives?

    And, thank you, truly, for the kind words about the ex & me. Certainly there are bumps along the way but I can't imagine never, ever having anything to do with someone who slept next to me every night for 13+ years! (Although, I certainly expect how some people would feel that way.)

    And, "you are quite something"? Pshaw. RIGHT back atcha, babe!

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  4. Hmmm, so much to chat about, wish I could be there! For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a motorcycle accident, probably just because of the severity of the injuries. In hindsight it's kind of too bad you didn't have that extra year of being single, you might not be single right now LOL... but then again I'm sure SRR wouldn't have gotten many things finished that you so needed to be done - and yet you are still working so hard on them as well as trying to support it alone. I think of how strong you have had to be the past year and it makes me smile, not many women can do it without giving up, you are inspiring and I miss ya! Lovely photos... and what do you have above that garage? Maybe you need to take in some renters up there? I wonder if my family would miss me... :) hugs...

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  5. I think that was the big spring snow that was so wet here, it looked blue!!
    Nasty, heavy stuff... just throw another log on the fire and sit tight..

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  6. Susan, sorry I didn't answer you! I got that image an age ago, stumbling across it on the Web. That said, the credit is given to http://go.funpic.hu. But, when I went to check it out: beware, there are a lot of inappropriate, R-rated cartoons / images there!

    Erin, you are TOO sweet! An inspiration is someone like YOU: raising two little ones when C is deployed, being the Queen of Organization (my house right now would give you a coronary - matter of fact, I wouldn't let you SEE it right now!), making due in your tiny house, doing all the gardening and preserving . . . I could go on and on!

    The ex not leaving (Swamp River Ridge and the marriage) until early 2010 vs. early 2009 didn't gain me anything done around here, really. First off, he was still too injured to do anything. Following that, he'd just lost interest in the place. :(

    Above the garage is what will be the pub (I'm sure I've mentioned that before) and an apartment for friends and a storage room. Right now, the internal walls are framed, but that's all. No insulation, no heat, no plumbing.

    And, no, I'll never give up! Not when I love this place and my life here so much! :)

    Karen Sue, I *DID* make a little fire in the kitchen's wood cookstove last night. But today, instead of throwing another log on the fire, I'll be working on the pile of wood: chainsawing and throwing THAT around! :)

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  7. P.S. Duh . . . "making DO" not "making due"!

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