A Long Walk in the Park

On Monday, we took a much needed trek outside. We needed to go up to the north side of town, and so decided to visit Hart Park. We used to enjoy walking there sometimes, but it was a good half an hour from our old place and is now another 20+ minutes away. So it's a bit far unless we're going to be up in that area anyway!

Here are Erik and Thomas getting ready to try out the slide near the bathrooms before our walk:
Thomas was not sure about the slide . . .
For some reason there was an old cast iron bathtub, in concrete, sitting on the trail. Thomas was in the tub at one point too, but having learned my lesson from the Christmas picture session I settled for two out of three . . .
The river is running high and fast.
What is that hanging from the lone branch over the river, you ask?
Someone's bobber! Tee hee.
Erik waiting under some mistletoe (high, high above him)
Doesn't this look fun? The giant spreading tree with the rope swing hanging over the water . . . except that it's been drilled into my head that the Kern River is too dangerous to swim in. Ever. -sigh-
My boys
Me and Pip (pockets bulging with extra lens and spare camera battery, lol)
The birds were out in full force, singing their hearts out. So fun to hear!The horsetails here are much taller and thinner than I've seen in Wisconsin--these were almost shoulder high!

No visit to Hart Park is complete without a glimpse of the peacocks.

The kingfisher we saw as we were leaving was a real treat!
We've been trying to be better about taking the dogs for a walk (almost) every day--mostly just around the neighborhood. They have head collars for walking because they're both so naughty about pulling. The collars work pretty well, but Pippin will suddenly stop walking and frantically try to scrape it off of his nose (sometimes succeeding); now Thomas, as with all things, has started imitating his brother. Joy. So they've been pretty annoying to walk lately.

Today we finally did what we'd been talking about and took a squirt bottle along on our walk. WOW. I expected that it would help stop the behavior as it was happening . . . I did not expect the mere sight of the squirt bottle to turn Thomas into a Model Dog. It was crazy! He walked right next to Erik the WHOLE TIME, whether in a heal or not, and kept stopping to see where the squirt bottle was. Pippin of course, being the Very Large Personality in a Small Body that he is, didn't care a bit unless he was getting squirted. But it actually worked quite well with him in both a mad dash after a cat and the trying-to-get-the-collar off. Apparently all the tugging and the saying "NO!" is nothing compared to a little mist . . . go figure. But if this helps train them so we can leave the head collars at home and not fight with them as we walk--wonderful!!

Our other two boys (moments before waking and tussling with each other)
The oranges we've been enjoying from our tree!
This post is kind of all over the place, but I have a couple of random stories for you. The first happened this past week. It has been foggy. Really, really foggy. As in can't-see-across-the-street foggy. I think I've mentioned the Tule Fog that happens here in the fall or winter when it's damp? Kids here don't have snow days (obviously), but they've all grown up with Fog Delays. Well last Saturday morning it was still really foggy when I left the house at around 9:30am to pick up a friend's daughter and go to a knitting/crochet circle with some ladies from church. I hate driving when it's THAT foggy, but was hoping that it would be better once I got on the freeway. Of course as I was driving down the main (big, busy) road in our area, I missed my turn in the fog. No problem. I turned into the drug store right past the turn off and came out of the parking lot to get back on the road. Because both of these are busy streets, I couldn't turn left toward my friend's, but had to go right (back to the stoplight) and then make a U-turn at the light. U-turns at lights are very common (and legal!) out here, probably because so many of the roads are divided. Are you wondering about my point yet? It's coming!

As I pulled up to the light, the turn arrow was yellow and turned red. So I stopped. Apparently that was a mistake because I proceeded to sit and watch traffic from the other three directions--and those going straight from my direction--all stop, go, turn, etc. at their appointed times . . . for THREE FULL CYCLES. I am not exaggerating. The woman in the car next to me (also a turn lane) kept looking at me as I shrugged that I didn't know what to do either. Finally, as the fourth cycle began, I decided to call the police. I mean, shouldn't they know about a light that wasn't working, especially in the crazy fog? Heh.

As I started to explain, the dispatcher interrupted with, "I know," in a tone that clearly also said she didn't care. She said that there were several lights around town that "the fog messes with." I said I thought the lights were on timers. "They are . . . but the fog messes with them." Huh. Interesting. In an area where fog is a dangerous factor in driving every year, we have stop lights that don't function in fog. She then told me that I should do what I was "taught in driver's ed and take turns." Except . . . that no one else was taking turns. No one knew I NEEDED a turn. They were going when their light was green and stopping when it was red . . . and in the fog wouldn't see a car running a red light until they were Too Close. Umm . . . thank you, Ms. Hope-for-the-Best. So turn on a red light I did, because the alternative was apparently to camp until the fog lifted. Ugh.

My other story goes back a little further. I've been having trouble with extremely dry skin on my fingertips for months. I went to a P.A. in the summer and he diagnosed me immediately. "It's eczema. Classic. Textbook case." He gave me a prescription for some steroid cream and sent me on my way. The cream helped somewhat; it stopped the cracking and bleeding, but my fingers never got back to normal. I was also wearing gloves to bed with bag balm on my hands to keep them moist. Suddenly my hands were really red and dry in the palms and on the backs of my fingers (is this too much information?) When I went back to the doctor, he looked alarmed and changed the steroid cream to one with an anti-fungal, thinking perhaps it was caused by the gloves (which I then threw away). He did a blood test to check for an autoimmune disease and said if they weren't better by such and such to come back. The redness went away almost immediately with the new cream, so it probably was some fungus from the gloves. But the dry fingers persisted. When I came back, he had me see the doctor.

The doctor diagnosed me immediately. "It's Palmar Erythema." He read the P.A.'s notes and scoffed, "This is NOT eczema. Ridiculous. And he should have run a lot more tests." The doctor, for his 5 minutes with me, charged twice as much for the visit and ordered LOTS of tests. He also gave me a steroid shot and said he would refer me to a dermatologist, "But seriously, by the time you go there's going to be nothing to see and they're going to be like 'there's nothing wrong with you' and you'll have to explain. The shot, unlike that cream he gave you, will last for months." I went home fairly certain I had horrible health issues. Interestingly, when I looked up palmar erythema I found lots about liver diseases and other horrendous health-related problems, but absolutely nothing about dry skin. Thankfully all of the bazillion tests came back negative. On to the dermatologist.

The dermatologist diagnosed me immediately. "It's psoriasis. Hand and foot psoriasis." I was as diplomatic as possible when I said, "You're the third person who has taken one look at my hands and told me you knew exactly what it was . . . and all of you say something different." His response? "But I'm right." Oh. Ok, then. He went on, "I've never even heard of palmar erythema." So he sent me home with--wait for it--a prescription for a tub of the same steroid cream the very first guy gave me. (He also offered a light-therapy treatment that might help--at the bargain price of $1000/month. Pass. I'm going with the "being out in the sun helps too" part.)

Yep. It's been quite a ride.

Thanks for "listening" to me rant! :-)

Oh!! Best news ever--we're heading up to the Sacramento area (Antelope) on Saturday for a weekend with Mom, who is Andy's birthday present to Noelle! :-D