Leaves and Logs . . .

I've been down for the count with a respiratory thing.

You know, I've been diagnosed with asthma for probably 20 years.  I was diagnosed as an adult while I was living in SoCal.  And the doctor there was very clear with me that I should not be doing yard work.  What that meant back then, was that we (my ex and I) had to get a gardener to handle the outside work.

This infuriated my ex-husband.  He was of the opinion that I should be able to keep up with a 3-bed, 2 1/2 bath house, all the outside yard work, still work full-time, and cook three nights a week.  He certainly wasn't going to do the yard work - his only real chore was to clean the cat box daily and he almost never did that.  He was very clear with me that I was most certainly lazy since I couldn't keep up with what - to me - was a huge house (after having lived in a studio in downtown Chicago), and when the doctor said no more yard work, he pretty much blew his top.  Yeah . . . really . . .

I have a yard guy now, and he's great, but somehow we never discussed any leaf cleanup for this fall.  I don't mind if the leaves stay on the lawn, but they cannot build up around the AC units on the funky little back patio.  If they do, they can wash down the back steps and clog that drain, and in the spring they will impede clear flow of water into that drain, and I cannot have that!

I'd been furiously working on a knitting project for a gift exchange, but I got up to water the plants and looked out the window (sorry for the "screen" shot ( :-D )), and realized that I had to get these leaves taken care of before the snow really flies here.

In addition, the cover I bought for the gazebo furniture blew off in the wind storm we had the day before Thanksgiving, so I needed to get that corrected, as well.

I got up and went out, grabbed the rake, put on some gloves, and grabbed an old red tub that we used to use for recycling in my village.  I started out front and began to shovel leaves.  I took them around to the back where I tossed them over the ravine where they will happily decompose over the winter.

When I finished out front, I headed to the patio and got this bunch going.  To the left of this photo was another pile of leaves that had already started to decompose, so I took care of them, too, shoveling them in, tub full by tub full and hauling them back to the ravine.  And while I was back there, I started flinging the cut pieces of an old diseased cherry tree that ComEd had cut down, and that my contractor told ComEd to leave out back instead of having them take it and chip it.  He wanted the wood, he said, to smoke meat.  Of course he back-tracked on that, and said he didn't want all of it . . . and then he never took any of it!  Anyway - I started to toss the cut pieces I could manage, over into the ravine as well.

Flinging the wood, and getting tub after tub of leaves removed required a lot of bending over with my face - and of course my nose, which is attached - very close to the leaves and the wet ground . . .  By the time I was done, I was covered with mud and stickers!  The results of my labor were good, though, and I'm not worried about the patio leaves any longer.

And the gazebo furniture is back to being covered up (in some fashion) for the coming winter.

But by Sunday, I was sneezing and coughing - and remembering why it is, exactly, that I no longer do major yard work . . .

By Monday I was in poor shape and coughing up crud out of my lungs that was an unfortunate color.  Discovered that my asthma doc was on vacation this week, but, thankfully, my primary care doc saw me that afternoon, and I and my squeaking lungs went home with a fever and a prescription for a z-pak and a short course of prednisone.  I spent two days down for the count.  I'm still coughing, and sleeping with the vaporizer, but am feeling quite a bit better now.  My lungs are still squeaking a bit, but I already have an appointment with the asthma doc for next week, so I'll check in with him about it then.  For all the poor side effects of having to take prednisone (I will be super happy to be able to sleep again soon), one really great thing is that when you have to take it, nothing hurts, which is kind of amazing and wonderful.

In other, happier news, I have most of my wrapping done for Hanukkah and Christmas gifts that need to go in the mail tomorrow.  I'll be finishing things up tonight in that regard.  A few things haven't arrived yet, but I want to get the other stuff in the mail tomorrow or I risk things not getting where they need to go in a timely manner.

I didn't decorate much this year, but I decorated enough  :-)  You can just see my mom's little tree, there to the left of the patio doors, right next to one of the light trees (for my podcast), and right behind the table with my Circular Sock Machine on it.

My all-time favorite Cirque du Soleil show, Alegria, is returning to Chicago in June 2020 in celebration of its 25th anniversary.  Yes, I already have tickets - and the hope that J will be able to come up for a visit then.  :-)