The ol' homestead...

Not much going on around the ol' homestead these days. It's cloudy a lot of the time. We've had rain and the snow is all gone. Which is fine with me.

In order to enjoy a little, ongoing project, I am building my first whirligig. It's a large woodpecker pecking at a notch in a tree with the tree acting as the rudder of the whirligig. I'm now working on the wooden propeller, which will drive the woodpecker. I never knew whirligigs were so much work! I bought a book on how to build them and thus I stand at the woodworking bench in our shop, the wood fire humming in the woodstove, and feel strongly that my Dad is working along with me.

He loved whirligigs and made several of them. I remember one he made was a blacksmith shoeing a horse, each spin of the propeller causing the blacksmith's arm and hand with hammer to go up and down. I can imagine my Dad joking that that guy was never gonna get that "hoss" shod.

In his later years, after several strokes, he wasn't able to make things as well as he used to, but he never quit. He made several, very simple whirligigs, all cut out with a jigsaw with his good right hand, no propeller mechanism, just carved wooden props that would spin out on the end of a squirrel's front paws, the squirrel sitting as if he were praying.

I'm still feeling really good and I'm really taking it easy. We take short backroad drives almost every day. Today we drove down Badger Gulch Road to Woodland Road, then home via Hanging Rock Road. Wonderful views of the snow-clad Simcoes.

I told a friend online last night that my skull/neck issues are still around and are definitely not going to allow me to overdo!

Are you ready for Christmas? We are about done. We are not really getting anything for each other, though I did buy several little things for Pete to open at the dollar store. I sent off a box to our son in CA filled with home-baked goodies, some store-bought candies and cookies, and a small check. Everything has to be small this year, due to expenses forked out for the surgery trip.

How do I feel about going back for the fusion? I'm a tad ambivalent but more and more leaning toward the fact that I do need to go have the fusion done, since I have found such world-class surgeons to do the work. They say I will experience a great amount of relief when I have the fusion, so I need to trust them.

I absolutely don't like thinking about wearing the halo. I know someone who is having a horrid time with her halo right now. And like most people, I worry about being worse post-op than before. I don't want to be one of those people who seem to be continually having re-do's and revisions.

But the one statement that rings in my heart is the one my son told me on the phone. I was describing to him what must be done and my fears about it. We've always had such a blessed relationship and friendship. And he said, "But if you have the fusion, you would be so much more safe in the event of a car accident."

And that kind of reasoning is hard for me to argue with. For my family, getting the fusion done is probably the best thing I can do. But it all rolls off the tongue so easily, when in reality, it means months of pain and debilitation.

Have almost all of my cards sent out, so guess I'll close here and go finish up that project, and at the same time, continue gluing the wooden prop blades into the hub I built for the whirligig. A fun, winter project. I can only work an hour in the shop, but it's a nice hour, spent thinking about the wood and listening to Christmas carols on the local radio station.