Plodding along

Plodding along is where I feel I am now.
Plodding, according to the dictionary, means:

adjective

1. slow-moving and unexciting.

   
   

   "a plodding comedy drama"

   • (of a person) thorough and hard-working but lacking in imagination or intelligence.

     
     

     "plodding, methodical Ralph Bellamy"

So why am I in this category?
At times I certainly feel thorough, hard-working and lacking in imagination or intelligence, therefore yes?
Especially so when the back pain from fractures in my spine are stopping me from simply straightening up, not even standing up, never mind walking...
There is also the despair and changing mood but I maintain a positive attitude and soldier on.
I am able to do more, not everything but I am less impaired though still quite disabled by it all.
Plodding is a feeling I get that is probably due to the plateau I've reached, certainly a peak of improvement has been attained through thorough and hard-work that has now reached the period of little or no change in my physical, emotional and cognitive difficulties.
Compared to a year ago, where I was in a coma and my life was at risk, there's a massive and impressive improvement. If I compare myself against what I consider normality, I would say I am 60% of the way there.
Am I being ungreatful?
I don't think so. I love life and I am propelled to getting better by the love and support from family and friends. I am so thankful to have them all. They've fought for me, with me and pushed me all this way but I am still wanting more. Not from them but certain from me.

I used to wear a suit and tie, nicely polished shoes and dressed for success. Now I wear comfortable, supportive lace-less, slip on shoes, jeans and t-shirt, jumpers etc. They are still clean and smart but it's a way from where I 'power dressed'. Then again, I am retired so no real need to wear a suit to walk Rosie to the park or plod along at home.
I am unable to wear lace ups because I struggle to get to my feet... I can't reach them. They are an appendage too far!
Hence one of my 'sillier goals' is to be able to wear one of my lovely suits, lace up shoes, tie and shirt.. Take Julie out for a posh, romantic meal.
Months ago, our son Sean asked me what I wanted to achieve in losing some of the weight I'd gained from the sedentary life I had now acquired.
Same goal but with March 23rd as a goal date because it would be our 35th wedding anniversary. Reality is we can at least get a nice meal in a restaurant but I may not look as dashing as I aimed to be... Although I would be there and this was a tremendous success and personal journey of hard graft but still only a little way over half the way there.

Many years ago, I was on a conference when I worked for Astra Pharmaceuticals that later became AstraZenecca. We were in the Algarve, Portugal.
One of the speakers was Frank Dick, the former director of coaching for UK athletics. He was a powerful and inspirational speaker. Among the many things he said, he spoke about 'Valley people' and 'Mountain People'.
Valley people, are happy with their lot and never seek to improve on what they have. Mountain people are the polar opposite, they achieve one goal, climbing that mountain, they are not happy with this and push themselves to climb the next mountain and so on. Now their is nothing wrong with either, though as a Mountain person, I cannot be satisfied with my lot  though circumstances push me to, I need to carry on climbing

Jasmine

Sweet young Jasmine. Retired racer through injury, she was sidelined and not much of a prospect. Now, we have her and love her to bits...
Full of life, mischief and love. She is enjoying life, being in her 'forever home', getting fussed over, very much spoilt.
She is quite different to our RosieG, she barks, especially at the telly if there are dog noises... She plays with toys and loves her ball. She also eats very well. We are so pleased she's eating well. She was so scrawny and in poor condition when we first homed her.
Unlike Rosie, she's not a fan of dentistix, she does like pigs ears though (yuck!)...
Same breed but such different, individual characters.
Jasmine is such a tale wagger, it's more like a 360° rotation at 100 mph... So cute but so dangerous.. She has a little of her tail missing, right at the tip! I am sure it must have been a traumatic amputation: we had the bloodbath the other night. It was like a scene from a thriller where the killer has knifed someone to death and there has been a struggle!! A 'massacre' at home... It wasn't but it could have been. There was blood everywhere.
The splatter was a fine bloody spray in our bedroom, the hall, stairs and landing, dinning room and upstairs bathroom. Who knows what she had hit but it was very evident.
To complicate things a bit more, we had a house viewing the next day (we are selling our place) so we had to plan something.... Julie had to work so she thought it best to clean when she was back home.
I thought I'd save us time by cleaning the blood where I could get to it : mirrors, furnishings, doors, walls...and dab the marks off.
Big mistake!
The dabbing on the walls was 'inefficient' so rubbing was required and it worked, on the white walls. The walls in the hall, stairs and landing are blue and the rubbing caused more of a problem, the paint rubbed off... Revealing the undercoat so desperate measures were needed, I'll use the spare paint left over from painting that area a couple of years ago, no problem.
I looked for a tester pot in the shed and found it, dabbed all over the areas affected and hey presto, done!
Wrong.....the walls were now like a blue leopard print!
I thought the paint was the right shade but was just taking a little longer to dry when in fact it was around 5 tones darker!
Panic ensued, I had a couple of hours to fix this, I am not driving so I hobbled with my walking stick, down to the DIY store, found the tester pots and then, more anxiety: 'which one is the correct shade? what if its not? I can't afford to waste any more time or energy running back and forth so I bought 4 shades of blue.
Problem solved? I wasn't going to get away with it as easily as that!
They were all a tad darker or lighter but not the same, the leopard print was now more interesting as the lighter shades differentiated the darker spots to make it, well, damned obvious something was wrong!!
Panic
I was broken at this point and Julie cane home.
You can imagine what she said and how she felt, well not as bad as I did.
We went of hunting for different shades of blue. A hue that was now no longer available!
Thankfully, Keiron and Aga came round. They said not to panic, took a couple of photos of the walls with the camera on the phone, went down to Homebase and half an hour later, a perfect match, good enough for the house viewing.

So what happened to the culprit, Jasmine, not me...?
Well she had foam pipe lagging and a dressing applied to her tail which was successful in protecting and healing her tail.
We now try not to get her too excited or at least, steer her from any obstructions when she is in full helicopter mode!!