Saturday, December 18, 2010

Winter has finally arrived and with it less time spent outdoors, for me anyway. Todd feeds the horses, plows the driveway, carries in wood and I only go outside to get in the truck for grocery runs. Not that I hate winter or anything, it's the cold I have a problem with. I've hung up my riding gear until the spring, and am more than happy to stay indoors as much as possible, preferably in front of the fireplace.

Progress is being made on the casting backlog. With Todd about caught up on winter preparations he is now back in the casting shop and will be helping with casting clean up, so we should be able to get a lot more work shipped out over the next weeks and months. I've been spending all my studio time cleaning castings since the summer, when I needed to step in so Todd could work on a much needed home remodel project. So, I have not been sculpting at all, there is nothing new in the pipeline and probably won't be for at least a few more months. Believe me, I'd much rather be being creative than sanding on castings. It's very boring and tedious, and I don't seem to know where to stop so the castings going out are 70-80% prepped.

My back problem seems to be manageable now. I still can't stand for very long, but the pain is under control and I have been able to resume most of my regular activities. I had a great physical therapist and chiropractor and have continued my exercises at home, I think it helps a lot. At some point in the future I will need major back surgery, but the longer I can put it off the more likely the FDA will have approved new surgical devices that could save me from having to have a spinal fusion. Fingers crossed that's how it turns out anyway.

At one point my sciatica was so painful that I couldn't walk at all, and my therapist suggested I use a wheelchair for an upcoming pack trip. Yes, I was too stubborn to give up my pack trips :) As far as I know I may be the only person who has packed a wheelchair into the Weminuche Wilderness:












When my back started to do a little better I started riding Indy, Todd's TWH. Those who know Indy know he is, um, weird. But he is the smoothest horse we have and he makes me feel good, the way he carries himself just makes you feel alive: