the knee bone's connected to the...

Cabin fever!  I've been apartment-bound for almost a week.  I strained my quad at the gym and, since walking was painful and ill-advised, spent several days with my leg propped up, anxiously prodding it for sore spots. A few weeks ago, I'd signed up for an adult dance class that started this week and I hated to miss, so when I'd passed from sore to tender, decided to take the risk of going.  Bad idea.  A fascinating (and painful) anatomy lesson:  one of the jobs of your quad is to keep your kneecap in place. If your quad is compromised, your kneecap is at a much greater risk of sliding all over the place injury, especially if you are doing a lot of jumping.  By the end of class, my quad felt fine, but my knee was agonizingly pained.  Two more days of healing later and I'm pacing the apartment, looking outside (sunny and 75 degrees), and trying to keep myself occupied.  At least the cats are entertaining.  I bought this hammock-like contraption that hooks onto any window...

It holds up to 50 pounds, and the Amazon review page shows delightful customer photos of two cats curled together in the hammock.

So far, the cats have politely taken turns, but I'd love to catch a cuddle!

I'm a terrible invalid.  I've greatly missed our daily walks.

Just last week (the night before the injury), we had a wonderful one, seeing some chattering crows...

...and even a barred owl in the woods.

I'm hoping to, at the very least, resume the daily walk tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I've had a lot of time to plan the remodel on the house we're hoping to get.  My room-by-room analysis has been challenging and time-consuming, two absolutely welcomed characteristics this week.

-Rip up the carpet and put down light-colored bamboo flooring.
-Remove all pendant ceiling lights and fan and install recessed lighting.
-Paint walls (including paneling) Benjamin Moore Paper White.
-Paint bookcase Benjamin Moore Pale Smoke. 

Etc., etc.

If we do get the house (which we're hoping to know for sure by this time next week at the latest), we will be ready!

Have a great week!

Farm-tastic!

More lovely days in the town where even the graffiti makes us feel right at home:

It's wonderful to have so many great places to hike close by.  We've gotten into the delightful  habit of a leg-stretching stroll at least every other day.  There's so much to see.  Beautiful butterflies...

...including this aptly-named great spangled fritillary.

Check out those spotted eyes!

I also saw a banded tussock caterpillar making his way across a leaf...

...and these sawfly larvae were making short work of a leaf of their own!

Sawfly larvae are very destructive.  A group of sawfly larvae can skeletonize a leaf in no time, and even adult sawflies prey on plants! 

This was a fun discovery: the corpse plant (Monotropa uniflora).

It lacks chlorophyll and does not get its energy from the sun.  Instead, it uses its root system, and a has a parasitic relationship with a certain fungus, from which it draws nutrients.  Because they don't utilize sunlight, they can be found in some very dark places! 

We stumbled on this really colorful bog yesterday, full of birds and odd, spiky flowers.  I can't wait to go back with my binoculars!

We even found a nearby park with a pond where we can indulge in goz love!

More great news:  we're under contract to buy a 5-acre hobby farm!  I'm so picky and I don't like contemporary house styles, so I was absolutely thrilled to find this great A-frame.  It needs massive updating...carpet removed, walls repainted, cabinets knocked out, lighting replaced.  But I think it will be AMAZING. 

Two of the acres are fenced in and animal-ready!

The view from my future office deck:

The barn!

The deal isn't done until the deal is done, so right now I will say that I'm thrilled to be under contract and hopeful that there are no problems and we'll close as planned in early September.  I'm already planning a fruit orchard, massive vegetable and flower gardens, a chicken coop, climbing roses up the side of the house (A-frames just beg for climbing roses!), and a beautiful red door and window boxes full of red geraniums to offset all of that drab brown! 

Stay tuned!