Just Another Busy Week

I am a little off schedule this week.  Normally, I prefer to keep to a consistent blogging topic schedule, but with the GIVEAWAY hop that started Monday, I decided to save my weekly update post until today.

To give you a little update on the work injury flare up.  If you didn't hear, this one is pretty bad, almost more of a re-injury as for how it feels, but it's still related to the first that had never quite finished healing.

PROGRESS that is what I have been having with it, which has me still in good spirits.  The steroids they had me on, which I am finished taking.  Took a lot of the pain and swelling down.  The topical anti inflammatory medicine took the rest of the swelling down.
Yup, it's true.  It took about a week for it to all work, but I had virtually no swelling last week.

Additionally, there has been very little pain!
I am still in the boot, most of the day, and all night.  But I have been going a little less each day.
Once the swelling went down, my tendon loosened a little and gave me a little flexibility again.
Not much, but by mid week, I could walk in a normal sports shoe with only a 1 inch lift, as long as I kept the pace slow.
By the end of the week, I could put my foot flat on the ground barefoot, and stand and not feel like my tendon was tearing apart:)

I did a little slow walking each day, and PT started as I am working on building the stability muscles back up again.  My ankle is pretty weak, but it's been responding pretty well to the building exercises.
This coming week, I will be adding a little (minor) stretching into the PT routine.  I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit scared that this will bring the pain and inflammation back, but if I do this smartly and not really stretch as much as just feel a slight pull I should be okay.

I did play on the swings with the cute nephew and nieces though:)

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I did take on a last minute event last week.  I don't know if I ever told you this before, but occasionally (3 times now) I get hired to decorate for a funeral.
I know, that sounds crazy.  But not all cultures embrace death with black and sorrow.
In the Tongan culture, the funeral brings everyone together to celebrate the deceased life. Sometimes party's are thrown, to support one another to celebrate with memories and joy.  In addition, the casket area is decorated with a pillar design and flowers and greenery, and items that reflect their culture.
So yes, I decorate the backdrop area that the casket will sit.  But before you get all creeped out, it's not that bad.  I arrive and do all my part before the casket arrives, and I return once it has been removed and taken to the grave site.

It's also the only time, I accept a rush request and waive my added "rush" fee.  But then again, when I do these, I generally do them mostly myself with only 1-2 others.
Because of my foot issues, I brought 2 others.  I have to thank my parents for that, they were awesome and came and helped this time.

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My sister and her husband, who I am fairly certain don't even read my blog:) Kicked some but in a triathlon this weekend.  My sister took 1st in her age, PR'd over last year, and even took 12th place overall the other men and woman competitors!
Her husband, took 2nd in his division.
My Sis, has been through a lot this year.  She had a neck operation and in the process a dye they had to inject for an CT Scan was accidentally shot through a vein, which paralyzed one of her arms and she had to go through months of OT to gain use of it again.
In addition, she always battles with her allergy, yes she is actually allergic to exercise.  Not that she has ever let it stop her.  In fact, she just slowly pushes herself more and more, because she can, she loves it, and she isn't going to let anything keep her down!
Pretty amazing gal, so I am very proud of her and her accomplishment this weekend!

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We had some fun family fun, it was a week filled with lot's of family birthdays.  So lots of fun parties with all my nieces and nephews.  I just have the cutest ones ever.

The kids were doing potato-sack races, and the horses all ran up at once from across the field to check out all the fun and laughter going on.  They just sat watching them over the fence the whole time, it was so cute.  (I love horses, I wish I could have my own:)

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This week has reminded me, that life is always going to be filled with obstacles.  Things may or may not always go our way.  But we decide how we are going to handle it, and how it is going to affect us.  We may not be able to control what happens, but we can definitely control how we get passed it, and which voice and thoughts we are going to use in doing so!

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Last, I am finally getting around to SHOPPING for a new comment system.  I loved Intense Debate, but when it wouldn't work with blogger mobile versions I had no choice but to drop it.
I do not want to stay on the blogger comment system, I don't like not having all the control options.

I also want a system that not only allows me to respond online, but at the same time returns a response to the visitor who commented and engages conversation more.
If you are on blogger I would love to hear which comment systems you prefer.
I am leaning towards Disqus, it seems to be one of the most popular blogging comment systems, not necessarily in the healthy living blogs, but overall.  It works with blogger well I hear, and if you switch you don't loose all your previous comments.  (Which is what happened to me when I removed Intense Debate.)

If you have an opinion on comment systems, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!


Hope you all had a great past week everyone!  Tell me something you have going on right now.
How do you like to treat obstacles thrown your way? 

The Wild Mustang

Every now and then I like to introduce you to a different idea on Travel Tuesday.  This week is again not one of those things that a lot of people think of doing.  But for those who have had the opportunity, they will tell you it is a beautiful and amazing experience.  Seeing Mustangs out in the wild.

I have to tell you, I absolutely love horses.  If I lived or owned a ranch you can guarantee I would have several of them.  Maybe because I enjoy old westerns, and the idea of horses roaming free, is possibly why I occasionally like to take a day and travel out to see if I can be lucky enough to find a herd or two of Wild Mustangs.

I will tell you these photo's are taken in Utah.  However, because I really enjoy my quiet little hot spot that I have come across, I am not going to tell you the exact location.
However, there are many places you can travel in the United States (most in the western states) that will give you the best opportunity to see the beautiful creatures in the wild.
Of course, if your a friend of mine and visiting Utah and this is something you really want to do and see, I might be easily persuaded to take you out and show them to you.

Even though their can be anywhere between 50-800+ in an area, believe it or not they can be hard to find if you don't ask for local tips first.  Wild horses generally will avoid people, in my experience it takes a lot of time to be able to get close enough to wild ones to get photo's,  So if you go, plan on enjoying them from a distance.  I even suggest bringing binoculars.
I do apologize for the quality of my picture's they were not taken with my better camera:( and some were taken while moving.

The particular area I visit is home to around 600 wild mustangs (give or take.)  However I have only seen a few hundred at any given time, as there are many herds and they tend not to (when I see them) all hang out together.  But I can hear them in the different canyons around, even when I can't visually see them.  Which is pretty cool to hear in itself.

I'll tell you a tip for seeing wild horses, and I make no claims that this will work each time.  However, a lot of horses get really thirsty before sunset.  So if you stay a safe distance away from their water source. (You must find this first.) Then you have a much higher chance of seeing them come in closer, and they'll be much easier to see than when they are up in the mountains or hiding in the tree's during the day eating.  However, you may have to scout them out during the day with binoculars to discover which water holes they will be coming to later that evening.

The photo above, if you look close you'll see the dust trail behind the leading horses in the picture.  I have to say, listening to a herd of horses stamped down a dirt trail is so much more awesome than hearing/watching it in a motion picture.
I shouldn't admit this, but yes I was driving my truck fast down the dirt road, along side them which is kind of why they were running.  Its also another reason why the picture quality isn't the best, because it's kind of hard when your moving and they are moving.

I think horses are beautiful, and if you ever are able to have the opportunity.  I will say, watching wild horses grazing, running and playing is an amazingly beautiful experience!

Mustang's are very protective of their herd.  Do you see the two black mustangs in the center of the above picture?  They came up first and check things out to make sure the area is safe.
Once they decided I wasn't a threat to the herd, they called the rest of the horses in.
They came in pretty much at once, I guessed around 100 (give or take).  They drank and took off back towards the mountains when finished.  The two black mustangs stood guard watching me the entire time.
I stayed a safe distance away, sat in the back of my truck to be safe. (They will charge, if provoked, and I would not want to provoke or harm them.)
Each time I visit them, pretty much the exact same thing happens.

Where I go, there are many herds.  They come down to drink water in the evening and come from all directions.  Which is why I don't try to approach them.  Plus, after a long day, they deserve a good uninterrupted long drink!
However, sometimes they do surprise you, and I have many times had them come up behind me a little too close for comfort.
Once out hiking earlier in a day, as I was trying to spot them to decide where they would be coming down to drink that night, I came up over a hill and accidentally happened right upon them a bit to quickly.  Let's just say the lead mustang wasn't exactly welcoming.  He didn't charge, but made it very clear I needed to get out quick, which we did.

The key to viewing these beautiful animals in the wild is to respect them.  Make sure you are not getting too close, and don't shout or annoy them.  They are smart animals, they can tell pretty quick if you mean harm or not.  But even so, you should always remember to keep a safe distance and remember these are not at all like the horses you see in corrals or on ranches.  They are after all wild and should be respected as such!

*  More than half of the wild horses in America are actually in Nevada.
*  Other larger populations are also in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon and smaller poplations in Utah.  (Although you may find even smaller herds in other states as well as I believe Alberta, Canada still has a few herds.)