December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Nolan had a great time with his uncle buddy the other day…

December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

After we got home from our hike and the playground, I put Nolan down for a nap and when he woke up his whole body was really hot.  I took his temperature under his arm and it was 100′.  His first fever!  Poor little bear.  We put him his warm fleece jammies and hat and then he sat with his daddy for a little bit with his juice-water while daddy read him a bible story.  I should have wondered why he was so subdued most the day.  I was just thinking wow!  Nolan’s so easygoing today!  Hanging out in the ergo backpack for 2 hours with narry a protesting peep.  Awesome.  I should have figured something was amiss.  Which reminds me of a story.  My mom always told me that she just loved when I was sick because I would get really cuddly.  That was the only time I would be so apparently.

December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Well- as you all know if you read this blog, I was doing a lot of hiking back in the spring of this year.  Then things went downhill again for me for awhile and I’ve been away from it for a few months.  But I’m happy to say I’m back at it.  Nolan and I did our third hike today over Mt. Diablo starting at Curry Point.  All I have to say is wow.  Mt. Diablo is beautiful- a real mountain.  A lot of places I hike are beautiful and pleasant for sure, but they’re only wannabe mountains.  Mt. Diablo doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody.  Just the drive up there makes it obvious where you’re headed.  Some photos along the fire road trail: I just can’t believe how good hiking really feels.  I feel so refreshed, happy, energetic, satisfied, and…happy (did I say that already?) during and after hiking.  If only my body matched up with my true desires when it comes to hiking I could accomplish so much more.  I could feel like giving up on life entirely one day, and if I go hiking the next day, everything feels good and livable again.  As long as my little friend Teddy is working okay that is.  T-d for thyroid, so Teddy- get it?  Although Teddy hasn’t really been a true friend to me these past few years, I have sent Teddy to “counseling” and improvements have been seen in Teddy with medication.   (Teddy still has a way to go, but on Teddy’s good days we’re able to hike like today!  Actually it makes logical sense that hiking feels good because my new Doc said that exercising regularly is extremely important to true recovery with thyroid diseases- he said you must capitalize on the increase in metabolism that taking T3 medication brings in order to really improve long term.  I have definitely noticed this.  But back to hiking.

I have always thought the bark of the Manzanita tree to be beautiful, but this one is without exception the most richly colored one I have ever seen. If it wasn’t so pretty where it was, I’d sure love to have it at my house as a dining table or coffee table or something!

The total trip was 4 miles, and in and out hike.  An old fire road with plenty of space and since most of it is high up along a ridge where the sun can get to it, the trail was for the most part unmuddy.  Yay for that.  I really don’t love when my shoes get so caked with mud on all sides that my shoes weigh 10 lbs. each and my steps leave imprints as big as Bigfoot’s (happened 2 days ago in a wet ravine-like area in San Ramon).  I’m sure in the next few months with some rain it will all be green- not quite there for now, but still beautiful none-the-less.  Well maybe a little less. On my hike in I did hear a strange animal call- not close by- but down the side of the mountain aways in the Diablo foothills.  It definitely wasn’t a bird, horse, or mountain lion.  It wasn’t a cow but kind of sounded like one, a deep guttural type sound.  On my hike out there was pickup truck with a VERY large animal cage in the back- I mean- it took up the whole truck bed and hung off the back.  Of course my mind got to wondering…hmmm…are there some mountain lions needing to be caught or something?  A li-ttle scary.  As I got closer to the car, I met up with four lovely older ladies who were also out hiking.  I asked if they hike together often and they said yes, and that they are the “slow sisters”.   Then I asked if they had seen the large animal cage in the truck going by.  They had and I mentioned my thought about the mountain lion.  One of the ladies responded, “Oh no, they wouldn’t catch mountain lions around here unless someone had been attacked or murdered by one or something.”  Umm…yeah my exact concern.  But then they went on to say this guy traps wild boars in the area and then they’re sent off to be ground up for dog food.  Nice.   Apparently the boars cause too much vegetation damage.  So that must have been a wild boar I heard.  Still, I googled mountain lions and Mt. Diablo…encouraging was this quote, “A former ranger told me that he knew they travel through the park, but in 30 years had never seen one there himself and didn’t think they lingered so much, but passed through the area.”

Saw some deer tracks though… a much less scary animal to rest one’s thoughts on:Oh but back to the “slow sisters”.  They loved Nolan of course (who doesn’t with that charming smile?)  They tried to interest him in their dog Chulita, but he was more focused grabbing for the ladies’ hiking pole. We walked the last stretch back together and after a once over I decided the ladies were not the criminal killer or kidnapper type and let one of them hold Nolan. She didn’t have any grandkids of her own, so I’m sure this was a treat, since Nolan is the best grandkid EVER. All in all it was a lovely day.  Nolan and I took a break and hung out in the back of the car as we do often now- with the 2 left seats down it creates a nice large space for us that’s kind of like a little home on wheels.  I love it!