standstill

A few weeks ago I went outside to give the grass its last cut (hooray!) before "winter" and the belt broke. We had it repaired and serviced for the winter. The guys brought it back last week, but my schedule was maxed out. Today was the last warm day for a while, so I was determined I was going to squeeze in the front yard today, if nothing else. Cranked the machine up, and the belt was smoking a little bit. Sometimes new belts do that for the first few minutes. Sure enough, after the first pass, it quit.  At the end of pass three, the deck started shaking. I stopped the blades, backed up, looked underneath, and the belt is off. I've already called and schedule a pickup for tomorrow. To be honest, I don't know whether to be frustrated or relieved. Yes, the front yard is only halfway cut. But I'm also tired. After two presentations this morning and more things to do tonight, it's a little nice to have something off my schedule, even if it is off because of problems.

On to the next thing!!

on the mend

The middle of September I began experiencing my normal fall congestion/sneezing, etc.  Except this time my ears begin to fill up with fluid. It finally reached a point where one ear was totally stopped up and I couldn't hear out of it.
I've been through a round of steroids, a round of antibiotic ear drops, and this past week I finally saw an ENT. He vacuumed out my ear, and I could hear!!! But then he put powder and a syringe full of medicine in it, so it is stopped up again. I go back in two weeks where he'll clean it out and possibly repeat the process. (The ear canal was still halfway swollen shut so he couldn't take care of everything...as opposed to totally swollen shut a few weeks ago!) It's still ringing some, but the pressure is gone, and for that I'm extremely grateful. Had a brief scare today when my left ear started filling up.  I think if I had muffled/no hearing in both ears I would go crazy. I have several friends who have gone deaf in one ear, and it makes me wonder  how they adjusted. It's been hard.  I can't tell how loud or soft I'm talking. Sometimes I can hear a person's voice but their words are a few degrees toward the adults in a Peanuts movie. Sometimes my voice echoes in my head, and it sounds really strange when I eat.
It seems like it's been one thing after the other this year.  Poison ivy reaction which took several months to totally clear, a bad fall that I'm still not totally recovered from, and now this. I'm hoping 2020 will be less injury/sickness heavy!

Cherokee salad

We stopped at a restaurant in Cherokee one day for lunch called The Princess. It had a buffet and was incredibly good.  I don't know how authentic the food is, but there was one cold salad on the salad bar I had never had before, but really enjoyed.

Raw collards, chopped small
Thin sliced tomatoes
Round balls of cheese...not sure if it was mozzarella or what.

And these three ingredients were marinated in a dressing that was similar to Italian, though not quite that. It was really good, and turned out to be one of my favorite foods there that day.

We had to ask what the cheese was. I thought it might be an egg of some kind, but when I bit into it the taste and texture was more like bland chicken. The lady thought I was crazy when I asked, but said it was cheese. I wish I had followed up with what kind of cheese, but I didn't.