Ups and downs - and not just the weather

As I was preparing this post for publishing, I checked my phone and realized I had taken exactly two photos this week. Here's Saku wearing a toy around his neck - didn't faze him a bit. In the background, you can see Stanley sleeping on the tower. The other photo is of our power meter reading - no need to post that!

Despite the on-going pain from the dental work, I had a pretty good weekend. The Blue Jays (baseball) won the first two games in the series against the New York Yankees.  One of the two curling teams I was cheering for won the Pointsbet Invitational - and I wasn't surprised at the other winner. And our Saskatchewan Roughriders (football) won another game, continuing to lead in the West Division of the CFL. Overall a very good sporting weekend.

However on Sunday, I discovered that a piece of the tooth that was extracted wasn't removed, and with the swelling down was now poking out of my gum. Most of the time it didn't bother me, but eating was a different proposition. It meant I stuck to a very soft diet. I phoned the dentist office early Monday morning to advise that I needed to have this looked at, before going ahead with the planned filling. (It's on the opposite side of my mouth and if I couldn't use the extraction side, I'd be limited to eat only what I could drink).

I had a few groceries to pick up on Monday, and headed first to pharmacy to see if I could arrange my Covid and Flu vaccines. It was very annoying to learn that the province has not rolled out the Covid vaccines as yet, just the flu. I do want to get these dealt with before I head south, and I did go ahead and book appointments for D and I to receive our flu shots next week before I leave for the city. At home I tried to check with Regina pharmacies and it seems they haven't received their stock either, and contacting our provincial health authority is pretty much impossible. It's rather ridiculous as they have announced through the media that appointments were available for next week. 

Since we dropped before freezing early Monday morning, and it was forecast to be event colder overnight, I decided to dig the last of the onions and carrots from the garden. Wednesday's photo is the evidence of the results. I've since blanched and cut up the carrots, the wee green onions are in the crisper, and the few strawberries were a nice treat.

Tuesday I was off to the dentist early, as my appointment was at 9 a.m. It is about a 20-25 minute drive from home to NTO. Arriving a few minute early, it wasn't long until I was ushered in the examining room. Imagine my surprise when I learned the bit of tooth wasn't tooth at all, but part of my jaw bone. After a few pokes with the needle, yuck, the dentist picked away at it and ground it down slightly. He assures me that my wound will heal around it. Then he turned his attention to the filling on the other side. He was working with a trainee dental assistant who kept telling me they would be done soon. The third time she said it, I told her not to say it again until it was true. 

Wednesday was Knit and Natter group, my last one here in town for a few months. I continued to work on Eli's sweater. D has asked that I make Eli a toque/beanie instead, so I'll finish the sleeves and whip up the hat in a couple of days. There were six of us there, including the two librarians. Another younger woman was also there with her almost 3 month old baby, and sat and visited with us. She crochets as well, and said she may be back to participate. Always great to see young(er) people keeping up the tradition.

The evening saw the Blue Jays winning their series against the Yankees. They'll be moving on to play either the Tigers or the Mariners. I'm thinking the Mariners played tough against the Jays in the regular season. In any event I'm sure it will be an entertaining (and nail biting) series.

I went grocery shopping on Thursday morning, as I wanted to catch the sales at our local Co-op. They had pork loin for $2.99/lb. I paid just over $15 for a huge loin that D and I cut up into several pork chops, a roast (our Thanksgiving meal) and two portions of cubes she can use for a stew or cut up for stir fry. Nearly everything I purchased was on sale, so I was very pleased.

In the afternoon, I finished off the sleeves for Eli's sweater and moved on to the toque. If I can finish it in two days, I'll go back to the sweater. I need to block the finished pieces, sew the side and sleeve seams, and then finish knitting the neck band, and bands for the buttons and button hole. That reminds me, I need to look for buttons! Maybe I will finish it before I leave on Tuesday...or not.

Friday was pretty much the last day for decent weather so it was time to get finished with the yard work. We're leaving the rain barrels in place for a couple more days as there is rain in the forecast, along with that dreaded four letter word - starts with s, ends with w and has NO in the middle. Yep, already, though it won't last long, we could get up to 10 cms/4 inches on Monday! 

It was a bit sad to see the patio furniture taken down and put in the shed, the garden dug up and turned over, cosmos cut down and some weeding completed in the flower bed. There are weeds growing between the rocks in the flower bed, which makes me think I am going to have to move large rocks to clear it out next spring. Some of these are thistle which have terrible tap roots. Remember when you were a kid and would dig a hole thinking you could go through the center of the earth to China? No, just me? In any event I swear thistle tap roots grow nearly that long.

The evening brought a Saskatchewan Roughrider football game - our team won but it certainly wasn't their best game. It was also sleepover night for Eli and me, our first since last spring. As a result of the football game he was permitted to stay up later than normal. I also kept an eye on the MLB scores though fell asleep before it ended in the 15th inning!  I woke this morning to learn the Jays will be playing the Mariners on Sunday evening.  Go Jays!

Today, I'm continuing my knitting while watching curling on a live stream. There is also football to watch later in the day though I won't be as invested. On Sunday we'll have our Thanksgiving meal; roast pork, roast vegetables, and maybe I'll convince D to bake a batch of buns. I've picked up a pumpkin pie for dessert, yum!

Have a great week ahead every one!