#I got off my butt and went to the grocery store for regular grounds. I feel better now.

[notbecauseofvictories]

thought I was entering a funk, thought that I was crawling toward rock bottom where even just replying to an email took Herculean effort, and my dishes would lie in the sink for eons to come or maybe serve as the breeding ground for a certain kind of obscure and fascinating bacteria---only to discover that I'd been drinking decaf coffee for the last two days.

[ragewerthers]

Autumnal

Summary: All Prompto wanted to do was have a nice evening ready for Gladio when he got home from the Citadel.  Sadly Ramuh seemed to have other plans in store.

But with the help of a caring Alpha, poor eyesight and a Christmas gift gone wrong... maybe this evening won't be so terrible after all?

A/n: Hello there!  This is an F3S work for my friend @bgn846​!  I had far too much trouble deciding on which prompt to write so... I did them all in one fic!  The prompts were:

'1.One of the bros gets locked out of their apartment in the rain or snow or something terrible.  They call someone to come help, cuddles and fluff may occur.

2.A/B/O if you wanna try or just regular… Alpha Gladio surprises Omega Prompto with some flowers or something after a long day.  This is purely an excuse for fluff and purring.

3.”Is that a boob mug?”  This has absolutely no context for a reason. Hahah'

They were all so fun how could I pick?!?!? XD  

You can also read on AO3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590126

Enjoy! :)

Word Count: 4187

-----------------------

“You have got to be kidding me?!” Prompto growled under his breath, his fingers fumbling inside his soggy pants pockets as he tried to desperately locate his house keys, shifting his couple bags of groceries from one arm to the other in his search.  Was it unseemly for an Omega to growl?  Maybe.  Did he give any butts about it now?  Absolutely not.

The poor Omega had found himself swept up in an early fall downpour on his way back from a quick excursion to downtown Insomnia and really, why wouldn’t it have happened on today of all days?  It had been spiracorn dung since the beginning and no matter how much he’d hoped for it to get better it appeared it truly wasn’t in the cards.

Another gust of wind whipped its way along the street where his and Gladio’s townhouse resided, sending sheets of rain cascading over him once more.  Why was Ramuh being such a dick today?!

He could hear other people rushing behind him along the sidewalk, seeking shelter in their own homes because they could at least remember to grab their keys from the little bowl at the front door.  Hadn’t Gladio literally put it there months ago to make sure he would remember to grab his keys because he knew something like this was bound to happen?

After coming up short in searching his jacket pockets as well, the sound of something tearing and things hitting the ground instantly made Prompto want to scream.  And so he did.

“Oh come on!” Prompto shouted to no one in particular.  Glancing down he saw the paper bags he’d been using had become so soggy that literally everything he had bought now lay scattered along the stoop or was rolling down the few steps that led to the sidewalk.  At this point, though it stung to see his purchases become waterlogged, he couldn’t bring it in himself to chase after them.  If Ramuh wanted his groceries that bad he could take them! With another unseemly growl that made him feel slightly better, he thumped his head against the door as he tried to figure out what his next course of action should be.

There was always trying to call someone, but at this point his phone was probably so full of rain water it was useless.  Even then who was he going to call?

Noct was in an incredibly important meeting with the delegates from Altissia. It was supposed to help rebuild some of the trading deals that had been in place before Insomnia had fallen all those years ago.  He’d been working so hard to rebuild everything from the ground up and there was no way that Prompto was going to bother his best friend for something as silly as this.  Besides, he could stand some soggy underpants if it meant that Noct could continue to raise Insomnia back to where it should be and far beyond it as well.

There was always Ignis, but today really would be an ill advised day to bother the Beta as well.  If Noct was busy working on building trade deals then Ignis was more than likely pulling the work weight of five men to ensure that it happened.  The man had become more and more reclusive when it came to his time in the archives and pulling out as much info as he could to help create a better and brighter Insomnia.  And while there was definitely a reckoning coming for the Beta in the form of his three friends forcing him to take some sort of break or vacation, today was not going to be that day.  That being said, he would also rather face a thousand feral daggerquills then interrupt Ignis while he was in extreme Adviser mode.

Bringing a hand up, Prompto went to wipe at his face to clear away some of the rain water cascading off his fringe, but aborted the movement a moment later.  At this point it would be replaced in a nanosecond and he couldn’t find the energy to care anymore about it.  With a deep sigh of defeat he took a seat on the soaked cement stoop and tried not to think of his last option.

Gladio.

Prompto gave a quiet, little whine as he thought of his Alpha.  Gods he wished he could just warp back to this morning, wrapped up in the man's arms without a care in the world.  It was a simpler time.  A less soggy and cold time.  He remembered only briefly waking to the brush of soft lips against his brow, his nose and then his own lips as Gladio promised to be back as soon as possible.  The next time Prompto woke, the early morning sun had been replaced with fluffier autumnal clouds and the bed was far cooler without the living furnace that was Gladio

The Alpha had to get up early to be at the meeting with Noct and though the threat from Altissia was non-existent after everything, it still was better to err on the side of caution.  And if there was going to be a force to dissuade any brazen acts of unrest, Gladio’s presence was more than capable of stopping it.

So sadly that meant enjoying a little breakfast together, or a few extra stolen kisses on the front stoop before Gladio went off were off the table for the day.  Prompto found lonely mornings like this to be the roughest to start.  However, he also knew that Gladio preferred them having their mornings to themselves as well and that always filled the Omega with a little extra warmth in his chest.  Knowing that Gladio was going to have such a full day and that his own presence was not needed at the Citadel he’d decided that he would surprise his lovely Alpha with a nice home cooked dinner for when he returned to their cozy apartment.

Thus after spending the better part of the day buying groceries for a ramen dish he knew Gladio would love, and maybe buying a small dessert for them to share together later, everything went to heck in a handbasket.

If he’d spent more time thinking to grab his keys and check the forecast instead of imagining the smile on Gladio’s face he wouldn’t be in the predicament he was in now.

Soggy groceries strewn about the pavement, a chill settling deep in his bones and a wish in his heart greater than anything that he could just be back inside and restart the day from the beginning.

���Prompto?  Prom, what happened?!” The sound of someone shouting to him through the downpour and rumbling thunder had Prompto’s head shooting up, not even realizing he’d ducked his head down to hide against his knees to begin with.

His eyes had to take a moment to focus, but as soon as the familiar warmth of the person’s hand touched his cheek he instantly sagged forward.  Strong arms wrapped around him without hesitation and he felt the rain lessen minutely against his shivering frame.

“Gl-Gladio?” he stammered, nuzzling his face into the crook of his Alpha’s neck, taking in the scent of cool forests and wildflowers.  A scent unmistakably Gladio’s, but with an underlying hint of firesmoke.  The man was upset and Prompto hated knowing he’d caused it.  “S-Sorry… sorry, Gladio.  I… I was st-stupid and for-forgot my…!”  His voice was cut off by a rather unmanly squeak that escaped when Gladio’s arms shifted and he found himself being lifted like a blushing bride and held against his Alpha’s broad chest, shielded from the unkind weather.

“No apologies, Sunshine,” Gladio murmured softly and Prompto felt the way his partner easily moved toward their door with him.  After a little jostling he heard the familiar jingle of keys and soon they were entering into the small hallway of their home.  Prompto could tell he was without a doubt drenching the little carpet they had down with the water coming off of him and he was probably making Gladio chilled by being held so close in his soggy mess of clothes.

A miserable little whine escaped Prompto without him meaning to and he felt Gladio give him a soft squeeze.  “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes.  You feel like an ice cube,” he murmured softly and this only made Prompto frown more, especially as he felt himself being carried toward their bathroom.

“I-I can go myself… you… you were wo-working all day.  I’m s-sorry,” he stammered only to find a soft kiss pressed to his forehead.  Looking up he caught the small smile on his Alpha’s lips.

“Please stop apologizing, sweetheart.  It’s not your fault.”

“But…,” he murmured only to find the man's lips now pressed against his own to stop him from finishing his sentence. As Gladio leaned back he nuzzled against Prompto’s nose, the deep rumble of a small purr vibrating through his chest and making Prompto’s bones feel like they were turning to liquid.  It only lasted a few seconds, but it was more than enough to quiet him and make him pliant for what Gladio had to say next.

“None of that,” Gladio murmured softly as they finally reached their bathroom. “The only time you should ever have to apologize is if something is directly your fault.  Do you control the weather?   No.  Would you have apologized to me on a sunny day?  No.  This isn’t your fault, Sunshine. Just a little bad luck.”

Prompto felt himself carefully set down on the bathroom counter, Gladio’s large frame moving around their small bathroom easily as he went to turn on the shower spray and grab his own towel for Prompto to use.  “Why does it always seem like I have bad luck though?” Prompto asked as Gladio closed the shower curtain and turned back to his mate.

“I don’t see what happens to you as bad luck.  Merely… inconvenient moments?” Gladio tried to offer, getting an unimpressed looked from his Omega as water still dripped from his fringe and down his freckled face.  “Okay… so maybe some of it is bad luck.  But it just means I get to come in and be your knight in shining armor and you know how much you love that.”  

The cocky little smile Gladio flashed him after that made Prompto snort, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth to quiet the noise. “You’re ridiculous,” he murmured.

“But I’m not wrong,” Gladio teased, stepping forward and sweeping his mate’s damp fringe to the side to press a gentle kiss to his brow. “Now go on.  I’ll leave you to warm up a bit and I’ll bring in a change of clothes, okay?”  With another soft kiss to the tip of his chilled nose, Prompto already felt himself warming just from the presence of his Alpha.

Once Gladio stepped out, Prompto scooched himself off the edge of the bathroom counter, moving a bit slowly as his fingers still felt a little numbed and chilled from the rainfall.  Soon he was free of his soggy clothes, quickly put in the hamper, and was stepping into the wonderfully warm spray of their shower.

It wasn’t much longer that he was feeling more human and less like the Astrals personal punching bag.  The feeling had returned to his fingers and toes and if he chose to use Gladio’s body wash to wrap himself up in the man's scent a bit more he was sure his Alpha wouldn’t mind.  Pulling the curtain back he saw that his favorite pyjama’s, the sweats with chocobo’s on them and his favorite band t-shirt, were already on the counter waiting for him.  Apparently he’d been so engrossed in getting the icky feelings and weather off of him that he hadn’t heard the door open and close.  For such a big guy it always surprised Prompto how stealthy he could be.  Which generally made impromptu games of hide and seek a nightmare for him because the man was a walking shadow!

Soon he was changed, his hair toweled off with Gladio’s towel and hung back up to dry.  Now to figure out how he was going to save the evening from his ridiculous ‘inconvenient moment’ and do something nice for Gladio! Opening the door to the bathroom, Prompto only had a moment to think before he found himself literally enveloped in a blanket and hoisted back into the air with a squeal that would’ve put the best horror actress to shame!

Gladio’s booming laughter echoed through the hall a moment later and as Prompto wriggled his face out of the warm fabric he glared at the man.  “Wh-what are you doing?!“ he squeaked, finding himself once more being carried around in his darling's arms like a bride in a quilted gown.

“Making sure my Omega is taken care of, sweetheart,” he cooed, making Prompto try to hide his flushed face in the blanket which, he realized, was radiating heat.  He nuzzled his cheek against the fabric and a soft little trill of content escaping him making Gladio chuckle again.

“I see putting the blanket in the dryer for a little bit worked its magic,” he teased, making Prompto flush more, though his soft smile on his lips stayed.  Soon he was being deposited on their sofa, his favorite tv show already playing and something warm and delicious smelling steaming on the small coffee table in front of them.

“Did… is that Cup Noodle?” he asked as he saw the noodles presented in a far fancier mug then he had ever realized their house had and a fork already nestled in it, only waiting for him to pluck it up to dive into the meal.

“It is. I went back out to clean up what was left of the groceries and I saw what you wanted to make,” he murmured, taking a seat beside Prompto and wrapping his arm around the man to hug him close to his side. “I know it’s not homemade, but I hope it will still do.  If nothing else it should help warm you up even more.” Prompto felt his cheeks heating for the umpteenth time now at the sweetness of his mate, but also at how spectacularly he had failed.  Sighing quietly he nuzzled closer to Gladio, taking in a deep breath and just focusing on his Alpha’s warmth for the moment.  “I wanted to surprise you,” he whispered quietly. “You had such a busy day and… I just wanted to give you a relaxing evening.  All I managed to do was make you worry about me and look after me.”

Closing his eyes as he spoke he curled up a bit more in the blanket.  “I’m sorry.”

Gladio’s arm around him moved slightly and soon Prompto felt strong, calloused fingers gently soothing through the damp knots in his hair.  “You have nothing to apologize for, Sunshine,” Gladio whispered gently.  “And I’ll keep reminding you of that.  That you don’t have to apologize for things like the weather, or dropping something, or forgetting something... until one day those apologies don’t happen anymore.  Because there is nothing you could ever do that I would think you should be sorry for.  You’re my sunshine.  And sunshine has only ever made me smile and happy. No apologies needed.”

The soft reassurances and the gentle soothing to his hair was almost enough to make Prompto’s barely held together composure break and a quiet sniffle escaped him.  “Y-You’re too good to me, ya know that?” he murmured, a watery little giggle escaping when he felt Gladio ruffling his hair lightly.

”No… you deserve the world, Sunshine.  Don’t ever doubt that,” Gladio murmured softly, pressing a kiss to his temple before shifting and leaning forward.  “Now.  I think the noodles have cooled long enough and if you wait any longer they’ll lose their chewy integrity.”  

“Chewy integrity?” Prompto questioned, bringing a hand up to soothe his hair back down and feeling the weight in his chest lifting more and more.  “I feel like only Cup Noodle addicts would believe in such a thing.”

The dramatic gasp that left Gladio and the scathing look he was given had Prompto fighting another round of giggles as he brought a hand up to cover his mouth.

“I am not an addict!  I’m a connoisseur!” Gladio huffed before passing over the ceramic cup, fighting a smile of his own.

“Mmhm.  And I’m the queen of Duscae,” Prompto teased, stirring his fork into the noodles in search of a few veggies.  

“I’m gonna tell Iggy you don’t believe in the integrity of noodles.  You’re going to get such a lecture,” Gladio huffed, leaning back with his own cup and twirling a fair amount of the noodly goodness onto his own fork.

“Oooor… you’ll get an earful about your sodium intake again and… then… uh…,” Prompto paused as he turned to look at Gladio, watching as the man stared back at him in confusion.

“And… what?  Everything okay, Prompto?” Gladio asked carefully around a mouthful, but Prompto’s eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to process what he was seeing.

“Is… is that a boob mug?” he asked, looking at the coffee cup Gladio was currently enjoying his meal from.

Gladio almost choked on his half chewed bite, coughing and smacking his chest before looking at Prompto like he was the crazy one.

“What?!  No this isn’t a boob mug!  Look at it,” he said, raising up what was clearly the mug of a female torso.

Prompto stared at his mate in disbelief before pointing at it.  “I am!  It’s a mug… with boobs!  Where did you even get that thing?!”  In the few years they had been living here he had absolutely no recollection of that hideous thing and if he had seen it, it wouldn’t have stayed in this apartment for very long. “Cor gave it to me last year for Christmas.  He said it was a bag gift, which was weird because it was wrapped, but still!” Gladio groused as he narrowed his eyes at the mug, apparently trying to see what Prompto was seeing.  “It’s obviously two moogles next to each other!  Look!  They even have their bright red noses!”

Prompto slowly started to see all the pieces coming together in this one moment and honestly, it was both endearing and hilarious.  “Uh… I’ll be right back, big guy,” he said lightly, only just keeping the tremble of laughter out of his voice as he wiggled out of the warm blanket and ran to their room.  Quickly locating what he was looking for he returned with his old glasses in hand and handed them to his Alpha.  “Would you please, please, please humor me and put these on?”

Gladio had waited patiently for his mate’s return, but seeing the glasses instantly had him grumbling.  “What are you trying to say?” he questioned, holding the glasses as if they had personally offended his honor.

“Nothing!  Nothing, just… please?” Prompto asked, jutting out his bottom lip and making his eyes go extra wide in that way he knew Gladio couldn’t fight against… adding in a little whine making it a sure thing.

With a growl, Gladio begrudgingly unfolded the glasses.  “Fine.  But I’m gonna tell you the same thing I said earlier,” he reassured as he perched the glasses on his nose before picking up the cup again.  “This mug is just an innocent picture of… shiva’s tits!”

“Exactly!” Prompto crowed as Gladio’s now seeing eyes beheld the world’s most atrocious mug.  The absolute shock that crossed his mate’s features had the laughter Prompto had been trying to hide finally break free.

“It’s not funny!” Gladio whined, still gripping the mug in his hands and staring at it with betrayal.  After a moment his eyes widened in horror.  “I’ve been drinking from this at the Citadel!  I brought it home because it chipped and wanted to fix it!  Oh my gods I must’ve looked like such a dick!”

Prompto was positively beside himself now, his laughter high-pitched and squeaking as tears of mirth clung to his eyelashes.  Oh his poor sweet Alpha!

“Y-You… dihihihihidn’t?!  O-oh my gahahahad!” Prompto wheezed out, laughing so hard he was leaning on Gladio who looked like he wanted nothing more to have the sofa swallow him up.  The mug was now abandoned on the coffee table and Gladio had his head in his hands.

Slowly Prompto started to calm, a few stray giggles still bubbling up as he wrapped his arm around his Alpha’s shoulders.  “I’m sorry, big guy.  But… I think what Cor might have said to you was that it was a ‘gag’ gift.  Not a ‘bag’ gift,” he murmured softly.  Gladio groaned even louder as he heard that and shook his head.

“So not only is my eyesight going, but I can’t hear as well?” Gladio mumbled and Prompto smiled gently, pressing a soft kiss to the man's shoulder and soothing his hand over his broad back.  

“First of all, I was at that Christmas party and if the music was any louder you would’ve had to send flare signals to talk to anyone,” Prompto said gently, getting a little huff from his Alpha as he wrapped his arm around him and hugged the big guy closer.  “But as for your eyesight… you’ve definitely been squinting a bit more lately.  But… those glasses are cute on you.”

Prompto watched as Gladio’s ears tinged red at being called cute and he bit his lower lip as a smile appeared over his lips.

“Shields don’t wear glasses… and they aren’t cute…,” came the haughty little reply and Prompto found himself rolling his eyes.

“Well… my Shield just mistook a boob mug for moogles so I think there maaay be an exception to the rule,” he giggled softly.  “And while I hate to argue with my Alpha… he most definitely looks cute in glasses.”

Gladio finally peeked his eyes out, his cheeks matching the light pink of his ears and making Prompto’s heart flutter a bit.  Leaning forward he pressed a soft kiss to one of those warmed cheeks and finally saw his Alpha’s smile returning.

“I guess we both had a tough day, huh?” Prompto murmured softly.  “I got caught in a rainstorm brought on by the rage of Ramuh himself… and you found out you’re getting old,” Prompto teased his Alpha lightly, giving his side a little pinch and earning a squeak from the man.

“Hey!  I’ll show you old!” Gladio growled, quickly tackling Prompto onto the sofa and gathering up his giggling Omega in his arms, pulling him flush against his chest. “Do old Alpha’s cuddle?  I think not!” he mumbled from somewhere above Prompto’s head, making the blond giggle harder as he wrapped his arms around Gladio’s waist and snuggled closer to the warmth he adored. “I don’t know.  Should I do tests to find out?  Find some nice young Alphahaha’s!  Okahahay!  I won’t!  I w-wohohon’t!” Prompto squealed out as Gladio’s fingers teased at his vulnerable side, tickling him mercilessly for a few seconds before stopping.

“Shush it, you,” Gladio chided with a soft smile, glancing down at Prompto with a look that always managed to melt Prompto’s insides.  The omega gave a happy little trill at that and snuggled closer as Gladio’s arms wrapped more snugly around him.

“Well… now that your Cup Noodles have lost any and all texture and you’ve managed to lure me into a cuddle pile… why don’t you get some rest, Sunshine?” Gladio murmured, the quiet, deep timbre of his voice already starting to have an effect on the Omega.

Cuddling closer and hiding his face against Gladio’s chest, Prompto felt his eyes already starting to close.  The warmth of his mate’s embrace that he had missed since this morning enveloped him completely and finally, finally every bad thing from the day felt like it was starting to ebb away.

He felt Gladio shifting for a moment, hearing the faint sound of his glasses being placed on the coffee table before the man settled once more.  A hand soon made its way up to his hair, gently running through it and lightly scratching over his scalp and truly, this was all Prompto ever wanted or needed.

It wasn’t much longer that Prompto found a soft purr starting to escape him and a little smile flickered over his lips as Gladio soon responded in kind.  The Alpha’s deeper purr made Prompto’s mind go wonderfully fuzzy and he sighed softly.

Finally, after the struggles and ups and downs of the day he was able to be back where he had longed to be since the beginning.  In the strong arms of his Alpha, a soft smile on his lips and knowing that regardless of what little turmoils and inconvenient moments happened, he would always have Gladio there to pick him up, making him laugh and offer him comfort.  Hopefully he could do the same.

Perhaps he’d start by getting rid of that mug for him?

But that could happen after a nice autumn nap.

[flamebearrel]

What Puts the “Fun” in “Fun Dead”? Chapter One

Fandom: Eddsworld

Synopsis: What started out with a simple shopping trip on a snow day ends up with the latest zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately, Mark doesn't realize until he's right in the middle of it. Oh, well. Looks like no one else has noticed, either. He'll just have to give them a few reminders.

Word Count: 943

Original Post Date: Mid-2017

Characters: Mark (Minor Eduardo and Jon)

Ships: None

Trigger Warnings: Food, Zombies (Will be added to a bit in later chapters)

Other Notes: Based off the events of the episodes "The Snogre" and "Fun Dead"; intended to take place within canon; discusses meta concepts; each chapter has a picture to go along with it

Ao3 Link

Next Chapter

~~~

Mark hated the cold.

Whenever a snow day came along during winter, he would cuddle up inside the house and refuse to leave. Unfortunately for him, that day just happened to be a snow day as well.

He’d wanted to stay inside, curled up with a good romance novel by the fireplace, but his housemates just wouldn't allow it. Soon enough, the couch was dragged outside, Mark still on it, so that he had no choice but to step into the chilling snow covering the ground.

“Don't you dare go back inside,” Eduardo warned him. “We’re just going to bring you out over and over again until you stay.”

“Please, Mark!” Jon was insisting on it too. “We’ll let you do something, anything, as long as you don't hide in the house all day again! Come play in the snow with us!”

Mark simply laughed, suppressing a shiver. “Alright, fine. You want me to stay out of the house? I can do that.”

Of course, being as clever as he was, the tall blond quickly found a loophole. He would go out… to run some errands. And to do that, he’d have to go inside other buildings. It was a foolproof plan.

Grabbing his trenchcoat, hat and mittens from the clothing rack just past the front door, along with a pair of wool-lined boots, he announced his plan to his housemates. The response he got was two pouty faces staring up at him.

Mark frowned. He hated seeing them disappointed like that. Eventually he sighed, defeated. “Alright, alright, stop doing that. I promise that when I come back, I'll play with you.”

That aroused a cheer from Jon. Even Eduardo smiled a little as he replied, “Okay, I guess that sounds good- now go! Get it done already.”

So the man with the butt-chin set off to the shopping area, romance novel in hand. As usual, it didn’t take long before he was completely immersed in the book. Mark had completed his errands enough times in the past that he knew exactly where to go, so he simply walked through with his eyes glued to the pages. No one did anything out of line, and no big changes occurred to mess up his reading, and he was fine with that.

At one point in his travels did he feel a strange energy wash over him. They were commonly referred to as “episodes,” where levels of action rose drastically and unnatural occurrences became more common. Mark was rarely involved in them at all, though, so he simply ignored the force, and eventually it passed on.

Finally he made it to his last stop, the grocery store. Grabbing what was usual for the trip there - fruits, vegetables, a keg of diet cola for Eduardo - the blond got in line at the checkout.

He ignored the fact that the line was unusually short.

Muttering a “thank you” to the cashier as he picked up his bags, Mark turned to leave, until he was suddenly stopped by an unexpected response.

“Uh, sir? I… I wouldn't suggest going out there.”

Mark slowly turned back to face the cashier. “What do you mean,” he questioned.

The man at the counter adjusted his glasses nervously. “Well, there have been reports of… certain things going around, like a… a sickness, you could say. Believe me, you really don't wanna catch it.”

“If it's some kind of common cold virus, I'm sure I'll be fine. Colds are nothing permanent; there’s no need to worry.”

“No, really,” the man insisted. “It isn't some regular virus. Anything but that; it seriously turns you into a-”

“Thank you,” Mark interrupted, “but I’ve made a promise to my housemates that I’d play with them and I intend to keep it.” And with that, he left the shop.

Surely the man was crazy, Mark thought to himself. Even if he wasn't, he probably found it entertaining to give his customers paranoia. What a sadist.

But something really did feel off when he stepped back outside.

It wasn't big, just a slight disturbance caused by the lack of idle chatter in the area. Yet it was just enough to be off-putting.

Likewise, it made Mark uncomfortable, being forced to listen to the sound of silence in a place where chitchat was so common, but he just continued to walk along and shut out the world using the pages of his book. Until, of course, he was distracted again.

“Ouch!” Mark hissed the word, stepping away from the bench he had just hit his foot on. He could've sworn that wasn't in that exact spot the last time he walked past it. In fact, he was sure it used to be a few inches to the left… the slight displacement of the bench bothered him. The blond decided it wouldn't hurt to spend a moment maneuvering it back into the correct position before he went back to his patient housemates.

Unfortunately, with the combined factors of the bench’s weight and slippery surface, Mark’s weak arms, and the grocery bags he was occupied with, moving it turned out to be a tedious task. Several minutes passed with little luck, until Mark contemplated just leaving it be and heading home.

But then, he suddenly heard a groan from behind him.

“Ah, you’re annoyed by this bench too,” Mark sighed, honestly relieved to hear another voice besides his own. He turned to face the newcomer. “I'm glad to see I'm not the only one… would you mind helping me move it back into-”

As soon as he saw it, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Mark was standing face-to-face with a zombie.

[missroserose]

coronavirus meme

Cross-posted from Dreamwidth.  Feel free to answer the questions yourself!  I’d love to hear how you’re doing, and what better time to make something go viral...?

1. Are you an essential worker? Nope.  I have Opinions on who is and isn't classified as essential and how much they're (not) being compensated for their risks, but ultimately there's not much I can do about that, other than tip generously when I do things like order delivery.  Regardless, massage is pretty low on the list of essential services, so I was laid off two weeks into quarantine. 2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine started? Recently a friend asked what I'd been doing to cope, and the snarky-but-uncomfortably-truthful answer that immediately came to mind was "drinking".  So I'll let y'all draw your own conclusions. 3. If you have kids, are they driving you nuts? No kids.   4. What new hobby have you taken up during this? Other than curling in an anxiety ball and constantly refreshing news and social media?  Um.  Well, I saw a post on Pillowfort about a local papercrafting store that was doing $50 grab bag orders where they'd stuff a box full of supplies and send them to you.  Figuring now might not be a bad time to get back into papercrafting, I went ahead and ordered one; it came with a rather nice A5-size planner and a number of stickers/inserts/what have you.  I've started browsing through the Instagram planner community and am working on a plan (hah!) to start my own account/YouTube channel...I figure, since creative work is all I can really do right now and my biggest trouble with consistently finishing creative work is the lack of structure, maybe this'll help me get my butt in gear?  Or it'll become another project that disappears off the radar.  But hey, at least it'll give me something to focus on in the interim. I'm pinkpunkplanner on Instagram, if anyone wants to follow along. I've also been cooking more.  It's never been my favorite hobby but it's become weirdly calming. 5. How many grocery runs have you done? Two.  So far we've stuck entirely to Trader Joe's, since that's where our cat food comes from and we've been able to get everything else we need there.  I suspect a Costco trip is upcoming, however. 6. What are you spending your stimulus check on? Already dumped it onto our credit card, where it nicely made up for my lost income this month.  We'll see if the Illinois unemployment office ever gets back to me about my claim. 7. Do you have any special occasions that you will miss during this quarantine? Nothing that immediately comes to mind, so long as my family all stays healthy.  I'm going to be rather upset if my mother or grandmother fall sick, though, given that I skipped visiting Alaska last year for financial/time reasons and indeed had plans to visit in April but...well. 8. Are you keeping your housework done? Ish? Enough to be functional, nowhere near what my mother would approve of. 9. What movie have you watched during this quarantine? Several, in fact.  I saw The Birdcage and Her for the first time, both of which I suspect are going to become favorites.  Jojo Rabbit I was slightly disappointed by; it was cute but didn't feel quite as narratively coherent as some of Waititi's other work.  The new version of Emma was absolutely sumptuous.  Brian and KC suggested your name. one night, which was stunningly beautiful.  I've watched both Ladyhawke and Portrait of a Lady on Fire with friends via voice chat; the former is a perennial favorite and the latter also beautiful in a very minimalist way.  Probably some others I've forgotten. 10. What are you streaming with? iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, possibly with a little Amazon Prime and Crunchyroll mixed in. 11. 9 months from now is there any chance of you having a baby? A miniscule one, I suppose. 12. What's your go-to quarantine meal? I've made this roasted-root-vegetables-and-chickpeas dish a few times.  If you don't have a NYT subscription, it's really simple:  Take a pound and a half of root vegetables (I use sweet potatoes and carrots), chop into pieces of roughly equal thickness, pour onto a sheet pan, season with salt, pepper, thyme if you have it, add enough olive oil to coat generously.  Stir together.  Roast for 30 minutes at 350.  While they roast, open a can of chickpeas, drain and rinse, toss with olive oil and whatever spice mixture that you've had sitting in the back of the cupboard intending to use (I have an Indian-flavored one that's been excellent).  Add to the pan with the vegetables, give everything a stir, raise oven temperature to 425 and roast another 15 minutes.  Mix together some yogurt (2/3 cup seems about right), salt, fresh garlic, and any seasonings you feel like adding; when the vegetables come out, serve them in dishes with yogurt sauce dolloped on top.  Delicious, warm, filling, and reasonably healthy. 13. Is this whole situation making you paranoid? The problem with not knowing the extent of the threat is that we can't really know the line where anxiety becomes paranoia.  This may be directly contributing to my current mental health state. 14. Has your internet gone out on you during this time? No, thankfully.  RCN's been sending out regular updates about the upgrades they've been implementing, and I've seen solid evidence (trucks with workers, improved physical infrastructure) that this is the case.  One building down the street from us has two junction boxes, one labeled "RCN" and the other "Comcast".  The RCN one is neatly wired with everything aligned and secured and all superfluous cabling removed.  The Comcast one...well, I'll let Adam speak for me on that one. 15. What month do you predict this all ends? See above re: uncertainty.  One of the things giving me anxiety is the sheer fucking hubris of the people in power making noises about "acceptable losses" in reopening the economy before we have anything like a robust testing/contact tracing/protection system in place.  Does the economy exist to serve humanity, or do humans exist to be ground up in the machine of economic progress?  I suspect we're quickly learning where the bulk of the USA lands on that spectrum. 16. First thing you’re gonna do when you get off quarantine? It probably says a lot about my current mental state that I can't really picture it.  But "make arrangements to go visit my family" is likely high on the list.  "Spend some quality time with my boyfriend" is also up there, assuming we're still together. 17. Where do you wish you were right now? Somewhere in 2021 or 2022, so I could get the uncertainty out of the way, take stock of the situation, begin the grieving process, and work on putting my new life together. 18. What free-from-quarantine activity are you missing the most? Looking at other people as potential friends and loved ones instead of potential vectors. 19. Have you run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer? Funny story—I signed up for a subscription about a year and a half ago from Who Gives A Crap, and in order to get the best price I just got the largest (48-roll) box and, when they email me about the next installment, I delay until we need it.  So our latest box came in...at the start of March. As for hand sanitizer, I barely use it (I prefer hand washing, it's less drying if you have good soap), so the stuff we have will probably last for months. 20. Do you have enough food to last a month? Probably, although the cats would be pretty skinny.

[basshouse]

Donkeys Down Under Part 2

Make sure you start with this blog post, its the first in the series and this is a serial! 

In the first post, I started with How We Got Here.  Next up: 

Where we are. 

We live on Centaurus Road in Hillsborough, Christchurch (not-so-subliminal hint: sending a package will cost you an arm and a leg, but it’ll be worth it to see the smiles on our faces if you include a few packets of Hidden Valley Ranch mix).  

Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island, with a whopping 375,000 people or so  – pretty big considering the whole country is just under 5 million people, and only about 30% of them live on the South Island at all. You can do your own research on the city’s history and geography if you like. The city is big enough to have good restaurants, bars, craft beer, and various forms of mild entertainment like tennis clubs, live music from time to time, exercise options...more cosmopolitan than we expected but super easy navigate and access to surfing beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, coasts, bike trails. 

Our house is perched on the Port Hills, a short walk from the renowned Rapaki Track and a 10 minute drive to Sumner Beach (our regular surfing spot). The house has great views, an extra room for guests, and a lot of character – including:

A bathroom with handmade cat tiles and a shower with a strong homemade underwater motif.

A crazy garden full of roses, really loud birds, the odd hedgehog, and a zillion fruit trees that we don’t know how to manage.  Seriously, you should have seen me and Jason and Anily trying to shake down a tree full of plums without any useful protective gear – next time we’ll get out the ski goggles and helmets. 

A small plant growing up through the living room floor.  

A bathroom sink that’s even smaller than the one in our house in Seattle – really! 

Checkerboard linoleum floors. 

Sailboat wallpaper in one room and the ugliest damn curtains you’ve ever seen in others. Like, mauve. And flowered. Sometimes at the same time.

A fantastic sunroom that is the home of our new ping pong table and our surfboard rack.  Thankfully we did not have to get rid of the college dude vibe we had so carefully cultivated with our basement kegerator, Pacman machine and discarded drum set in the last house; we just evolved it a little -- the NZ version has a slightly more active characteristic. At this point Jason and I won’t be the ones playing the drinking games, but as I like to say, the best thing about being a grown up is giving yourself the permission to buy the toys that let you be the grown up you want to be.  Actually, I will probably never say that again because it’s a lot of words, but I’m committed to the philosophy behind it. More on toys and activities and drinking later.

The house has a fat deck with views of the Southern Alps

A super steep driveway and very slippery stairs (consider this your warning and legal disclaimer). 

You can’t see all the awesome details of the house in the satellite picture, but you can click and then zoom around if you want to see where we’re situated:

Our house is in a great spot.  It’s an easy bike ride to school and work and a short trip to the best grocery store in town, where you can buy a box of Gorilla Munch cereal for $8 and a small bag of Cheetos for $5 – in the international aisle, of course.  I refuse to document what else is in the American section.  I haven’t broken down and paid for the  Cheetos yet, but Anily really likes to eat Gorilla Munch before school, so, yes, this blog DOES contain a shopping list for things you should put in your extra suitcase when you come to visit (see if you can spot them all).  

We feel really lucky to have this house, and there are a few good lessons wrapped up in how we got this place with its weathered wood and tiny sinks and toilets.  One, surely, is not to lean too far for the toilet paper, especially if you can’t count on your core strength.  For not only are the toilets tiny, the seats on them are weak, and butt cheeks can be slippery.  Let’s just say the quality of the toilet seats has been a topic of more than one conversation among the American crew here, and one of us (not saying who) has a story that ends with a minor injury and a full bathroom clean up before coffee.

Anyway, for the real estate buffs out there, here’s how we won the rental house lottery: we landed in CHCH with ZERO idea of where to live and not much of a plan. We’d never been to this city, and luckily we had the sense not to commit to anything in advance.  That’s lesson #2 : it’s just too hard to know the vibe of a place without having feet on the ground, and internet research isn’t reliable for choosing a long-term place to live, so don’t commit if you don’t have to.  Good thing too, since most of what we read online in advance would have had us living on the west side of town, which is pretty much a mall, but of the NZ variety, which – shout out to my SA peeps – is reminiscent of the Central Park Mall in 1987, only without a Spencer’s and sub in a Kmart as the flagship instead of the Jacque Pen-nay’s. 

So we got to town, I went to work, and Jason started with schools.  Like many other places, school attendance is based on where you live, though there are schools that have open enrollment.  We got here at the end of the Seattle school year and basically decided to throw the kids right back in school until the summer break, which is December here.   Nice, right? A whole year of school to go with your whole year of winter, love you!  But honestly, it was the best thing for them to start socializing and acclimating without any academic pressure since they were already bored and missing friends after 20+ hours of plane travel and a couple days of down time.  A public school that we’d read about – Cashmere High – had an open day for potential students literally the day after we landed.  Jason took the kids to it, they liked the school, James sank a couple shots in the gym, we saw that surfing and skiing are on offer as school sports, and we immediately focused our energy on finding a place to live in the Cashmere school zone.

Which brings me to another lesson, the most important one, and something I need remind myself of constantly: don’t make it harder than it has to be.  Take the path that presents itself, make one important choice at a time, follow the clear option, and change direction if you need to once things gets going.  We followed this rule, sometimes unconsciously, throughout the process of getting to NZ and settling in; we took one step at a time, from job interviews to visa applications, to decisions about furniture and packing and pets.  We had no choice, really, it was the only way to handle such a monumental mud slide of hard decisions and logistics, and in the end all the right things happened.  As is the case with the house: once we knew the kids liked the school well enough, we decided to focus energy not on asking more questions or exploring other options, rather we focused on a house search, and in fact this house was the first one we looked at.  Another pro tip?  Show up with 6 months’ worth of rent in cash if you can, and try not to   come off like a criminal, just a decent family who is happy to pull the odd weed out of the navy blue 80s style living room carpet and furnish your own tiny, shockingly expensive fridge.  Because  listen up Americans: here in NZ, the appliances are small and ludicrously expensive, you can negotiate prices in the store, and it’s BYOA to the rental party. I’m not complaining, because that would be some seriously lame 1stworld problem whininess, it’s just something different. 

It took us about a month of AirBnBs to find and move into the house, which was a very cool way to experience other neighborhoods, including a couple beachside communities which would have been our first choice for living but made school and sports and commuting much more complicated (not worth it). 

This isn’t really a story, but it’s  possibly one of the best memories I’ll have in life: the four of us camped out in our living room for almost 6 weeks with literally nothing but an inflatable mattress that deflated progressively and then aggressively at the end, a ping pong table, 4 plastic place settings, a huge (expensive!) television, a few surfboards, and the contents of our duffle bags.  Binge watching “That Seventies Show,” huddling together near the wood burning fire place, waiting for your shipping container to arrive? That’s what brings a family together. 

The day the container arrived was like Christmas, but the one where your kids find out Santa isn’t real: a great day, followed by lots and lots of boxes and paper, the satisfaction of making your kids learn how to construct Ikea furniture, and sadness because once everything is put in order the kids scatter to their own rooms and beds and desks and laptops and you’re not all negotiating  screen time and eating off your ping pong table.  You’ve exited one phase and entered another, and if you’re smart you’ll stay present to them both.  

Just to close this out, here’s a great picture of Jason at one of the AirBnbs we stayed in: 

This is a view from a different one, in Lyttleton: 

Cuties!  XO.

[peacefulheartfarm]

What You Can Do With Milk

What you can do with milk is my topic for today. There are lots of ways to use milk. It is a very versatile food. There is so much more than just drinking milk out of a glass. I know you didn’t drink it out of the jug, right? 

As always, I want to take a minute and welcome all the new listeners and to say welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

New Farm Sign

Scott just came in and showed me a picture of the new mailbox and farm sign set up. It looks great. I ordered a sign online from an Etsy shop. I found a guy who makes really great signs for a very reasonable price. He had lots of samples to choose from and an interactive website. Choose a design, type in your farm name and voila, you could see how the sign would look when completed. I was really pleased with the work and the quickness of shipment. I’m doubly pleased with Scott’s work and how beautiful it looks in real life. Now people can tell when they have reached the farm. The GPS brings you right to it, but we are 1,000 feet off the road behind a bunch of trees. It can be a little spooky driving off into the wilderness without a sign indicating you are on the right track.

Garden

I took a stroll out into the garden this morning just to see how everything was going. I don’t go every day anymore. There just isn’t that much out there. And with the ground cloth, the weeds are almost non-existent. There are five beds that are completely empty now. All the beans are in except for the baby limas. I’ll wait until the first frost is forecast before pulling out all of those. I want to give them as much time as possible to mature.

Crowder Peas

Today I picked a few more crowder peas from the garden. I really love these. I’m already looking forward to growing even more of these next year. I’ve talked about these beauties before. They are so, so, so easy to grow. I’ve never had disease, knock on wood. The only pests I have are aphids and they don’t affect the development of the peas. Next year I’m going to try putting the plants on a trellis. In the past, I’ve just let them grow all over the place. However, I want to try a trellis because I think it will make picking them so much easier. They get so tangled up. The branches are like half runners. I have been letting them grow into a jungle. We shall see how it goes with the trellis next year.

Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes

The peppers just keep on going as well. I mentioned last week that I am working on creating pepper jam with the idea of selling it as Christmas gifts. They are going to be gorgeous. Red, green and yellow varieties. Hot, mild, and medium respectively.

More potatoes are sprouting out of the ground each day. But how long before the frost kills the plants? That’s an experiment in progress. I’ll get a really good idea of how late is too late for a fall planting of potatoes.

The tomatoes are blooming again. I’m just going to go out there and cut those down and put them on the compost pile. There is no way those tomatoes are going to make it to maturity.

Culinary Herbs

The culinary herbs are going to need to be transplanted into pots. Eventually, they are going to go into a permanent herb garden. Don’t know if that will happen next year. Having them in pots for the winter will be fine though. Well, the basil and parsley are annuals. I’ll probably plant those in the garden again next year. For the rest, I really need to get cracking on designing exactly how I want that perennial herb garden planted.

Cows

The cows got to try out their new loafing area. I talked about that in the last podcast when I was talking about the creamery. Scott completed the area with fencing and a very ingenious gate system. The girls spent some time in there getting to know the area. Cows are creatures of habit. They are very calm and peaceful animals – until you put something in front of them that they have never seen before. Scott is getting them used to being in this area. At some point we will even walk them through the milking stanchion area several times before using it regularly for milking. They need to be comfortable with it and that takes some time and training effort to accomplish.

The calves are getting fat with all the milk they are getting. At the end of this month I will begin to wean them off the milk. By that time, Virginia will have developed her rumen enough to be fully self-sufficient on grass. Wendell is already at that point but I can’t really wean him without weaning her. He would just push up under her neck and dislodge her mouth from the bottle. He already does that if he finishes his before she finishes hers. She does the same. They are quite greedy for that milk. 

Creamery

Not much has been happening here. There is another wall that has been completed, but most of Scott’s time went into completing the loafing area and tweaking it a bit here and there. He did get the attic wall up. There was some acrobatics involved in that job. He was working in and around other sections and obstacles like the stairway. But it’s done and he is injury-free. That is always a worry for me. I’m a worrier. I admit it. Prayer helps a lot.

Quail

Those quail in the penthouse are doing really, really well. They only escape occasionally now. It’s like they have learned to run to the back of the cage when I open the door. Previously they seemed to only run toward the door and ended up falling out. Literally, they would fall out. Now they will sometimes fly out, but before they would run and their little legs were still churning as they unexpectedly fell to the ground. In two more weeks we will sort them out and decide which ones to keep and which ones go to freezer camp. We will be keeping quite a few extra through the winter this year.

Fruit

I noticed the Muscatine grapes are disappearing. We have two grape vines, one gold and one kind of bronze. They both produced grapes this year. Last year only the gold one produced. Anyway, this morning most of the grapes were gone. Probably a raccoon.

What You Can Do With Milk

I want to talk a little bit about what you can do with milk. You’ve heard me talk about making cheese but there is so much more.

Nature’s Perfect Food

Milk is one of nature’s most perfect foods. Like all high-quality perishable foods, milk is best when it’s fresh. Homestead milk from your own cow varies in flavor due to the seasons and grasses being consumed by your animals but you can count on it being sweet, light, delicious and wholesome with a fresh taste. Commercial milk has a cooked flavor. Every once in a while I end up taking a sip of regular milk from the store and it never ceases to amaze me the difference in taste. It tastes cooked. I never noticed it until I started drinking milk straight from the cow. Now it stands out like a sore thumb. I love my fresh milk.

Knowing what you can do with milk is important when you have a lot of it coming in every day. It also gives some insight into how you can use your creativity to learn to make lots of great tasting milk treats. You don’t have to have your own cow to make most of this stuff. You can use milk you purchase in the grocery store. Except for ultra-pasteurized milk, all will work just fine. Ultra-pasteurized milk will not make cheese or yogurt or any other fermented milk product.

Cream

Let’s start with cream. You get cream by skimming milk after it has been left standing for at least 24-hours. A caveat on what I just said about making things with store-bought products, cream these days generally has alginate added to artificially thicken it. It is quite harmless but adds to the demise of the flavor. Of course it is pasteurized as well so has that cooked flavor. Real sweet cream drizzled over apple pie is a delicacy everyone should try at least once in their life.

Personally, I like it with fruit. Think peaches and cream, strawberries and cream, blueberries and cream and so on. Yum, yum. Pour the cream over the fruit, stir it well, let it sit for an hour or so and you have a treat like no other.

Other cream treats include whipped cream and ice cream which usually has some milk but is mostly cream. Another treat you will want to try is clotted cream. That is a cream dish that is cooked in the oven. I have plans to do a podcast on just that topic in the near future. I also use some cream to make ½ and ½ for Scott’s coffee. I fill a quart jar with two cups of cream and then top it off with whole milk. That equates to a little more than ½ and ½ but I have found it to be a great blend.

Cream can be processed in other ways such as with making crème fraiche which is a type of cream cheese. I have a recipe for crème fraiche on the website. There will be a link in the show notes. You can make sour cream as well, I’ve just never been really successful with that so I’ll stick with crème fraiche.

The last thing I will mention about cream is making butter and ghee or clarified butter. The skimmed cream is placed in a butter churn and processed until the butter fat separates from the milk. Now you have butter and buttermilk. I’ve talked about this butter milk before. It is unlike the cultured buttermilk purchased in the store. This is the traditional buttermilk.

If you are making this traditional buttermilk, generally you set out whole milk overnight and let is sour slightly before churning the butter out of it. The resulting buttermilk was a treat my dad loved with all his heart. He talked of buttermilk poured over cornbread all the time. It was probably his favorite treat of all time.

The butter can now be packaged and frozen for a long time or used as needed. I keep mine out on the counter so it is always soft. If you do this, you will need to use it quickly (as I do) or it will go rancid. You can add Vitamin E to help keep it from going rancid, but ours never lasts that long. There are also tools called butter bells that help keep butter fresh on the counter. The butter is put in the bell and then set upside down on a dish of cold water. That keeps the air from reaching the butter and oxidizing the fat causing it to go rancid.

Ghee is made by further processing the butter. I have a recipe for ghee on the website as well. Basically the butter is melted and cooked on the stovetop until the little bit of milk proteins still left in the butter is separated from the fat. Clarified butter is reached as soon as the separation occurs and ghee is made by continuing to cook the butter until the protein bits are browned. Ghee is very shelf stable without refrigeration. I have some in jars on my canned food shelves right now.

Fermented Milk Products

Let’s move on from cream to other milk products. All of these require some type of fermentation. The buttermilk and crème fraiche I talked about are also fermented products. However, cheese and yogurt are probably the most common fermented milk products.

Yogurt

I love making yogurt with our milk. It is so easy and so yummy. I get so many compliments on it. “It’s so creamy”, they say. That’s because it is not made from powdered milk like the stuff you buy in the store. Not only is that product made from powdered milk, but they also add stuff to thicken it.

I make mine by heating the milk to a just below boiling, around 180 to 190 degrees, then quickly cooling it. This destabilizes the proteins. Once a temp of 117 or so is reached, I add in yogurt with active cultures at a rate of one tablespoon per ½ gallon of whole milk. I use my Cosori multi-function pressure cooker to complete the process. In eight hours I have delicious and nutritious yogurt. I have that yogurt recipe on the website as well.

Kefir

The last idea for what you can do with milk I am going to talk about today is kefir.

Kefir is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. The drink originated in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Russia, where it is prepared by inoculating cow, goat, or sheep milk with kefir grains. My kefir recipe can be found on our website. All of these recipes will have links in the show notes.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. We always have something going on at the homestead and I love sharing with all of you. Things will be winding down for the winter soon. Topics for winter conversation will be varied. I look forward to it.

I hope you enjoyed the information on various ideas for what you can do with milk. I didn’t talk about cheese because the previous podcast was about types of cheese. Refer to that one for ideas on using milk for cheese making. Check out all of my recipes on our website. All of my recipes are printable. Let me know how they work for you.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipes:

Crème Fraiche

Ghee

Home Made Yogurt

Traditional Kefir

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Check out this episode!

[prettiestsupersoldier]

Last Name

Bucky x Black!Reader

AN: Coming up with names is damn hard. My single hopeless romantic side got the better of me at one point you’ll know it when you see it.

Part 2 / Part 3

When you met Bucky you were in a grocery store trying to grab the last case of water from the back of the bottom shelf. It wasn’t too hard to reach, but you were becoming increasingly tired with every day that passed. You had no idea being pregnant would make you as tired as you were. You weren’t even that far along only about 3 months and you felt like you had run 10 miles and were carrying a small baby elephant. Your baby bump wasn’t huge at this point but noticeable enough for older women and some men to look at, you smile, and then immediately look around for the man they assumed you were with. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t piss you off because it damn well did. Every time you went out and had more than two bags, no matter how light, someone would always offer help which was greatly appreciated until they opened their mouths and asked about your husband. Which was why you were so damn determined to get this case of water without help.

Bucky Barnes has always been an ass man. Sure boobs are great and soft, but he loves without question. Everything about them grabbing them, rubbing them, smacking them. He was particularly fond of looking at them. Which is how he found himself crashing face first into a shelf of energy drinks after spotting a particularly nice one bending over inside the grocery store.

“Oh my god!” You fall directly onto your butt at the incredibly loud and ground shaking crash. Looking to the side of you where a man stood rubbing his forehead.

“Are you okay?” One of the most gorgeous blue eyed men you had ever seen asks holding a hand out to you.

“Are you? You just went head first into a shelf.” 

“I was just got a little distracted that’s all I’m fine.” ‘A little distracted’ is a god damn understatement and he knows it. He was openly gawking at your ass and it was instant karma that he ran into that shelf. He doesn’t look at you for a long minute until you grab his hand.

He tried not to stare at you truly he did, but your eyes are a deep brown that held his attention and he wanted to stare into them for as long as he would be allowed to, your skin was the color of his favorite chocolate bar and his mind begged him to taste you to see if you would be so sweet.

After a long minute of him holding your hand and staring you began to pull away. Clearing your throat to grab his attention. “Well thanks for helpin’ me up. Don’t run into anymore shelves.”

He blinked back to reality when he felt your soft skin slipping away from his. The laugh he let out was too loud and too forced and he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him.

He coughed twice before he decided to speak again. “I’m James, but all my friends call me Bucky.”

“Nice to meet you James, y/n.” You bent down again feeling impossibly winded as you grabbed the water and shoved it under your cart.

“Thanks again. See ya around.” He watched you push your cart out of the aisle. Something tells him to follow you, to not let you get away but he doesn’t wanna be the creepy guy in the grocery store. So he watches you walk away from him and hopes that it isn’t the last time he’ll see you. He heads off in his own direction a little sad and unsettled.

It isn’t for another week that you two run into each other again, at the same grocery store no less. Only this time you aren’t bending over for water. Instead you’re on your tippy toes trying go get a box of Cheez-it. Your baby bump is bigger now not by much but it’s big enough to create an annoying barrier between you and delicious cracker goodness.

“I think we should probably stop meetin’ like this.” A gruff voice said as an arm reached above you. “White cheddar or regular?”

“White cheddar please, James.” You stepped to the side to be out of his way.

“You remembered my name, should I take that as a good sign?” He asks as he hands the box over to you.

“You could or you could take it as a sign that you’re not very good at coverin’ scars.” You point at his forehead and he blushes.

“My friend Natasha tried to help me out, she said it looked okay.” He rubs gently at his forehead.

“She lied. Thanks again though.” As you’re about to walk away he steps in front of your cart.

“I’m gonna beat myself up again if I don’t ask you out to coffee this time.” He says as he scratches the back of his neck.

“What do you mean?”

“Well I uh, last week when I wanted to ask you out for coffee but I didn’t. I figured us meeting again was my opportunity for a second chance.” He smiles at you and you can’t help but smile back.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I mean why wouldn’t I be?”

“Um?” You stand to the side smoothing your shirt over your belly making the bump more apparent.

“Oh you’re right babies can’t have coffee. How about lunch then?” He can feel his heart in his ears. He’s trying to be as cool and collected as possible but this is very nerve wracking.

“You’re cute, James.”

“So that is a yes right?”

“Yes you can take me to lunch. Luckily I’m starving. So where are we going James?”

He didn’t mean now but he wasn’t gonna let this opportunity walk past him especially after you called him cute. 

“There’s a nice little restaurant around the corner from here? They have really good pasta.”

The walk to restaurant was filled with comfortable small talk. The conversation flowed smoothly from the walk well into the actual meal.

“So can I ask you a question?”

“You just did but,” You take one last bite of your food before you speak again “I’m assuming, and correct me if i’m wrong, you’re asking why I let you take me to lunch even though I’m pregnant?” He doesn’t answer the question only looks down and plays with the straw in his drink.

“Well I might as well answer to clear the air so it doesn’t come up on any of our future dates.”You don’t look up at him eyes staying solely on your plate watching your fork with an interest you’ve never had before.

“I was dating this guy for a few years I thought everything was going great. The day I found out I was pregnant I also found out he’d been cheatin’ on me for 6 months. I packed my bags and didn’t tell him I was pregnant because I didn’t wanna hear his excuses. Moved out of that state the next weekend and never looked back. So no baby daddy drama should you decide I’m worth your time.” When you finally looked up he was looking at you with a sad smile. You didn’t want him to be sad, you weren’t sad he shouldn’t be either.

“Okay now I have a question.”You say trying to bring some lightness back to the conversation.

“I’m an open book doll. Ask away.” He finally meets your gaze and he can’t keep the smile off his face.

“What had you so distracted that made you walk into an 9’ft tall shelf?”

He could feel his face get boiling hot and he knew he was beet red.

“So you aren’t dating?” Sam questioned for what felt like the millionth time.

“No we aren’t.” Bucky rubbed his hands over his face at having to explain it again.

“Why not? how long has it been now 3 months?” Steve asked from the other side of the room.

“It’s hard to explain. There’s something there but If we started to date now I would be around the kid a lot because he’s almost here.”

“So you don’t wanna be around the kid?”

“I didn’t say that. Let me finish before you start interruptin’.” Bucky closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall behind him.

“Sorry continue please”

“Anyway like I was sayin’ he’s almost here and I’d be around a lot and if we broke up the kid ya know. He’d get attached I’d get attached.”

“As much as you talk about this girl do you really think you’d leave her and her kid one day?”

“No I don’t think I ever could. Didn’t even wanna leave ‘er that first day in the grocery store.”

“So stop being a punk and do somethin’.”

Buck: Are you free for lunch?

Y/N: Yep.

Buck: Meet you at our restaurant in 20?

Y/N: I’ll be the one that swallowed an entire watermelon.

He couldn’t help but smile at your message. You had an unstoppable sense of humor. He had seen you doubled over in pain still making jokes about how this kid wasn’t human and instead a jackhammer. He had seen fighting back tears from stress and work still telling him inappropriate jokes. 

“You think she’ll say yes?” He asked Steve.

‘I think so.” Steve says as he grabs his bottle of water from the table.

He cant remember a time in his life when he had ever been this nervous before. It felt like there were rocks in his stomach and not enough air in his lungs. He was a mess, well he always was when you were around and he was so surprised you hadn’t noticed how crazy you made him. 

“So who’s the lucky lady?’ You ask around a mouth full of his curly fries.

“What?” Did you know? If you did that would make this so much easier.

“The only time I’ve ever seen that look on a guys face was when he had his girl in mind. So tell me all about her.” No you didn’t and maybe that was a good thing.

“She ain’t my girl yet, but i”ll tell you about her.” If this was how the universe intend for him to ask you out then so be it.

“Shes gorgeous. Her eyes are a deep brown that remind me of home warm and inviting. I’m jealous of the sun because its kissed her so much and made her skin the color of melting chocolate on a hot day.”

 “Stop messin’ around Barnes.” 

“I’m not I’m tellin’ you about the girl of dreams.” He gives a smile you can’t quiet place.

“Sounds really familiar is all I’m sayin’.“  You say as you take another of his fries.

“Good it’s supposed to.” He says like its the most obvious thing in the world.

“Is it now?” Your lunch is totally forgotten about now all of your attention focused in on the man in front of you.

“Yeah.” He says looking up at you.

“What are you saying Barnes?” 

“Not saying a thing. I’m asking.” He is nervous you can tell because hes playing with his straw again.

“Your stallin’ is what you’re doin’.” You try and sound a little annoyed but it doesn’t work when you’re grinning like the kool-aid man

“Wanna be my girl?”

“Thought you’d never ask James.”

It happens at 3 in the morning and Bucky is beyond terrified even after you take every precaution to be calm in waking him up.

“Hey.” You whisper gently by his ear but he doesn’t stir.

“Psst.” You nudge him a little and he turns over and buries his face in your neck and it would be adorable but your bottom half is soaking wet in gunk and you need him to wake up. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You move your body as much as you can, provided the current situation, and lean as close to him as you can. You begin to pepper feather light kisses down his neck and across his face.

“Mhmm.” His eyes start to flutter not yet open but so close to consciousness.

“Wake up, I need you.” You purr next to his ears.

“Oh yeah?” He asks sleep still heavy in his voice as he snakes his arms around you as best he can still not quite awake.

“Yes I need you, Buck so bad.” You can tell he’s awake by the way he shifts his lower half and you stifle the laugh that’s threatening to escape.

“What do you need doll? My tongue again ?” He licks behind your ear.

“Your hands.” You say as a  contraction works its way through your body.

“What about my hands do you need doll?”He Has a smirk on his face and it is adorable but it needs to be gone now.

“I need them to drive me to the hospital.”

“What?!” And then his eyes are wide open and  he’s jumping out of bed. He dashes from room to room.

“Buck you’re stressing me out.” You should feel the need to rush to hurry to the hospital, but you don’t especially when your giant doof of a boyfriend is running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

“You should be stressed, doll he’s gonna be here some time today!”

“Unless he isn’t.” You reply as you put your laptop and cell phone into your backpack and putting your hair up into a puff at the top of your head.

“Don’t say that!” He shouts from the bathroom grabbing all of your bathroom toiletries.

“You know,” you begin as you struggle to get up from the bed,”I wasn’t due for another week I bet It’s because last night you dicke-”

“Don’t say that either!” His face went beet red at your words and you couldn’t help but laugh until a contraction damn near knocked you back onto the bed.

“Okay enough messing around let’s go have this baby.” He says as he helps you up on shaky hands.

“You’re shakin’ like a Polaroid picture.” You can feel his anxious energy rolling off him in waves and that isn’t the energy you need around you before a child comes screaming out of you. He smiles and takes a deep breath at your joke before opening the car door for you.

“The deep breathing is supposed to be my thing.”

8 hours. 8 sweaty, tear filled, excruciatingly painful, scary, wonderful, hours. Is how long it took for your baby boy to be born.

“He looks just like you.” Bucky whispers against your neck as he lays next to the both of you.

“Ya think so? He looks like a blob to me.” You are a wreck, but you don’t wanna go to sleep, not yet. You just wanna stare at your beautiful baby boy. With his long black eyelashes and already thick eyebrows, his deep brown eyes  the way his hair turns to beautiful springs whenever you run your fingers through the strands. He’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.

“Come on doll you need some sleep. I promise you he’ll be here when you wake up.”  

“I just wanna look at ‘im s’more.” The words aren’t even out of mouth before you feel unconsciousness take over.

As soon as your out buck moves fro your side and takes the tiny bundle from your arms and carried him over to the big cushioned chair with him.

“Hi.” its barley a whisper but when tiny brown eyes look up at him he knows it was enough. 

“I’m your…” What the hell was he. Hi tiny new born child I’m your moms boyfriend no that was dumb. He sighed and looked down at the bundle he wasn’t even a day old and Bucky swore the kid was giving him a face like he could hear him over thinking this. 

“I’m your … your buck.” That would have to do for now.

“Glad to finally meet you buddy.” He gently runs a finger over a puffy cheek and down to the light but constant thump over his heart. Hes so little in Buckys giant hands its terrifying and he wants nothing more then to make sure that this kid is the happiest kid in the world and its only been 10 minutes.

When you wake up next Bucky is sitting in the chair with the baby in his arms there is a pacifier on his pinky and his fingers are delicately stroking his tiny fist.

“Doll, can I ask you a serious question.” He wasn’t looking at you instead at the bundle of purple blankets and curly hair in his arms.

“Yeah buck sure.” Your throat is unbearably dry and you need water.

“It’s not that serious. I mean it is but if you don’t wanna I’m not gonna be mad at you I could never be mad at you.” His eyes stayed on the tiny bundle in his arms.

“You’re stalling.” You say around a mouth full of ice chips.

He takes a deep breath and then finally he looks at you and you can see that his eyes are bloodshot and watery.

“Are you cryin’?”

“Have been since you passed out.” He smiles at you as more tears stream down his face.

“Buck what’s wrong? ”You try and sit up but he fixes you with a stern look that tells you to lie back down.

“No, I have a question remember?” He laughs a little before he clears his throat and is looking at the little boy in his hands.

“I never thought i’d have a family after,” You knew good and well what after he meant and he didn’t need to go into details after that. There had been countless talks at 2 in the morning after horrible nightmares. You could already feel the tears prickling at your eyes and your heart was already so heavy. He had been so hurt for so long. “But I have always wanted a baby Barnes, you can ask Steve doll always wanted some runnin’ around the place for as long as I can remember and if you’d be okay with it I was wonderin’ if you’d let ‘im have my last name?”

“Buck.” Its barely a whisper and the tears coming from you are giant and messy. You had wanted to ask if it would be okay if you had given your son his last name but it seemed rather personal for how long you had been together.

“And if that’s too much for you that’s fine but I wouldn’t offer it if I wasn’t in this for the long run. I’d be the luckiest man alive if I even got to spend time with this kid.”

He wipes the few tears that have gathered on his cheek away before he’s looking at you again.

“Here ya go doll I bet he’s really hungry.”He stands next your bed cradling the baby ever so lightly.

You are full blown sobbing now and you would love to blame it on the emotions of being pregnant and the days events. But it’s not that. You don’t trust your voice not to give way so all you can do is nod your head and whisper through the sobs that wreck you a barely coherent yes.

“Doll, c’mere please.” Bucky called up the stairs to you as he grabbed his son’s favorite sippy cup.

“Gimmie a second Buck!”

“Daddy milk.” Dominic demanded as Bucky handed him the sippy cup.

“I’ll get you milk in a minute buddy. Don’t you want mommy to see our cool shirts?”

“Milk.” He stomped his tiny foot at him and threw the cup down.

With a deep sigh Bucky resigned and picked the tiny child up. “Okay but we gotta be fast so we can see mommy got it?” He jogged his way to the kitchen.

“Got it.” He nodded his head enthusiastically making his curly hair bounce all over. Bucky couldn’t help but laugh.

“Powder daddy?” He asked as Bucky placed him on the kitchen counter and went to get the milk and chocolate powder. Bucky grabbed another sippy cup and a glass for himself because he liked chocolate milk too dammit.

“Yeah yeah chocolate milk I know.”

When you finally made it downstairs you couldn’t see either of the boys. You were nervous anybody would be if their significant other called their name and then vanished. When you found them in the kitchen you couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from deep inside at what you were staring at. Your son stood on top of the counter, Bucky directly in front of him so he wouldn’t fall as he let out a sea of uncontrollable giggles.

“Mommy.” Dominic says as he sees you standing in the doorway of the kitchen slowly making your way towards them.

“I know we gotta get your face all cleaned first.” Dominic was having none of that though.

“No. Mommy.” He says grabbing his face with both of his chubby hands trying to turn it around so he could see you too.

“Son, please let me wipe your face.” Bucky said as he tried to wipe off the mess that was his son’s chocolate milky face. He had decided that his “little” cup wasn’t good enough and instead his dad’s full glass was perfect and spilled it all over his face.

“No.” He struggled to move past Bucky and over to you.

“What’s goin’ on here?” Watching as the little boy tried his hardest to leap over Buckys shoulder to get to you.

“Nothing! Don’t look yet turn around.”

“Dom why didn’t ya warn me?” Bucky asks as he is finally able to get the milk off his face and neck.

“Mommy?” He asks as he tilts his head to look at Bucky.

When Bucky finally gave you the okay to turn around he was standing behind Dominic holding his tiny fist in either hand as Dom stood on wobbly legs. They both wore matching tan shorts and black t-shirts. Your eyes immediately go to scan Bucky’s and you can’t help but laugh at the white print Tall Drink Of Water. Drink of water your ass he was like the thickest Dairy Queen blizzard ever. Your eyes then fall down to your baby boy and his chubby belly reads Short Sippy Cup Of Juice. You can feel the tears already starting to fall and you hope that Bucky thinks its because your laughing to hard. But the second your brown eyes go back to Bucky’s blue ones you know he knows.

After you had up and left your ex you had thought you’d be alone, planned for it even. Planned to not let anybody in, in order to protect your child and your already fragile heart from more destruction. So  never in a million years did you ever think that you and your child would have anybody in either of your lives let alone anybody as amazing as Bucky. But here he was standing right in front of of you.

“Do you like ‘em doll?”

You couldn’t help the smile on your face as you took them both in again.

“I love them.” You did love your boys with all your heart.

[johnclapperne]

Break An Ankle, Take A Break

We have had a long long Winter here in Calgary and I have to say I am excited seeing the temperature finally start to pick up. I think I was too excited a week ago Monday as I was going down my back stairs to take the recycling out and had a bit of a fall.

We have this little schedule at home. On Sunday night I take out garbage and Organic recycling to the back curb and on Monday night we get our other recycling together and I take that to the back curb to be picked up. We have done this for at least a couple years and it is our last thing at night before bed chore that I have done at least 200 times before.

But… Tragedy Strikes!

I have walked down a lot of stairs in my days but what happened is that for some reason as I was going down the last stair and turning to go into the back yard I somehow misjudged the distance to the ground and turned, I rolled my ankle and tumbled across my patio.

I let out a screech and grabbed my ankle but then I had the horrified thought that my stupid lack of coordination down one stair would attract the attention of my family and neighbours and I would have to explain how I had forgotten how to walk correctly

So I just whined quietly while holding my ankle until the pain went away a bit.

Finally, I got up and put a bit of weight on my leg and it seemed kinda ok. I continued limping across the lawn and through out the recycling, limped back to the house and sat on the couch, very whiney.

This isn’t the first time I have injured myself doing easy tasks. I once slipped on ice and went flying in the air and hurt my back. I also fell off a skateboard a few years back and knocked my pelvis out of place.

I think I have a coordination problem.

Anyway, I woke up in the morning, got up to take the dog out and feed the cat and immediately realized that I couldn’t walk. Very bad news. I spent a bit of time in bed accessing my ankle and finally hobbled into work (to work at a desk), and my wife got me an appointment to see the doctor in the next afternoon.

Hobble, hobble, around for a couple days.

I have a pretty great doctor. He is really laid back about a lot of stuff and immediately noticed that the swelling looked like stretched ligaments until he felt around the ball of my ankle and I make that screeching noice again. Uh oh, time to get an Xray.

On the Wednesday morning I got the XRay and by the afternoon got a call with results and a prescription. I had a fractured ankle. Take it easy, ice my ankle lots, and get an inflatable walking boot.

What Is An Inflatable Walking Boot?

As you can see from the picture, that as a fashion piece the walking boot is terrible, but having my ankle completely immobile while walking is fantastic.

No pain, and the healing can come faster because I am not reinjuring my ankle by limping badly on it.

I have to say that the idea of a walking boot seemed bad to me as I would have this big thing on my leg and have to explain to everyone my very embarrassing story of how I forgot how to step down stairs.

I avoided the boot for 2 or 3 days and finally got it on the Friday afternoon – 4 days after I first injured myself.

I should have got the walking boot sooner – it was really great

The boot goes half way up your lower leg and you just push your heel into the bottom against the back and there is a shell that goes on the front that you velcro into place and then pump up to get the pressure like a cast to immobilize the ankle and foot. Takes a minute to get on and a minute to take off. Easy and a very great way to help heal.

Since I have this boot on all day I can keep it off in the evening and get the mobility a bit while still icing it at least once or twice in the evening.

One day though I had the boot on too long. I was wearing it on a warm day for over 12 hours, took it off after getting groceries with my wife and the smell that wafted through our kitchen was unmistakably mine. My foot smelled worse than I ever remember after being trapped in the boot and sweating without air for the day. Terrible, and my wife and kids wouldn’t let me forget about it.

There Was An Unexpected Advantage To The Walking Boot

I was unexpectedly surprised about one side effect of the inflatable walking boot. Instead of being angry about my injury and worrying about the healing I just let my foot heal and changed my daily schedule up a bit.

I tend to be bouncing from one task to another all the time. That first weekend I had to finally slow down and sit. Of course I can move around pretty good with my walking boot but really I find it a bit uncomfortable to be walking any kind of distance. So that weekend? I sat and read. I took time to plan my blog. I just had quiet time a lot more than I am used to and it was refreshing.

I even played some Fortnite (a video game) with my son and really had some great one on one time with my son, daughter, and wife. More than I usually would.

With more time on the couch I was able to catch up on YouTube videos and learn more, I meditated with some guided meditations, and caught up with some music on Spotify. Kind of like having a bit of a vacation at home without all the work.

Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. When you know that there is no way you will be mowing the lawn, vacuuming the house, running around to stores, there is a real freedom. I didn’t care as much about the regular weekend todo list and instead of the anxiousness that I would usually feel I just had space in time to do things that I always put to the side for “later”.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all lazy. My wife was still having me do the dishes, I had to still take out the garbage and recycling (while watching the stairs:) ) but there were a lot less steps and a lot more intention on why I was going from point A to point B.

Now three weeks later my foot is more or less better. I am not running but am walking pretty good. I can go to the gym as long as I avoid working legs, and I am riding my bike again and have no pain doing that.

This has been a great few weeks as I look back on it. I know there was a lot of pain at times as well as lots of inconvenience, but I have been really surprised at the crazy pace I tend to have that is running around in circles so much. In the end I am pretty glad for this experience, especially coming in the Spring as I have really been able to refocus on a lot of priorities that I would not have otherwise as well as knowing that I will still be well healed for Summer.

The post Break An Ankle, Take A Break appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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[joshuabradleyn]

Break An Ankle, Take A Break

We have had a long long Winter here in Calgary and I have to say I am excited seeing the temperature finally start to pick up. I think I was too excited a week ago Monday as I was going down my back stairs to take the recycling out and had a bit of a fall.

We have this little schedule at home. On Sunday night I take out garbage and Organic recycling to the back curb and on Monday night we get our other recycling together and I take that to the back curb to be picked up. We have done this for at least a couple years and it is our last thing at night before bed chore that I have done at least 200 times before.

But… Tragedy Strikes!

I have walked down a lot of stairs in my days but what happened is that for some reason as I was going down the last stair and turning to go into the back yard I somehow misjudged the distance to the ground and turned, I rolled my ankle and tumbled across my patio.

I let out a screech and grabbed my ankle but then I had the horrified thought that my stupid lack of coordination down one stair would attract the attention of my family and neighbours and I would have to explain how I had forgotten how to walk correctly

So I just whined quietly while holding my ankle until the pain went away a bit.

Finally, I got up and put a bit of weight on my leg and it seemed kinda ok. I continued limping across the lawn and through out the recycling, limped back to the house and sat on the couch, very whiney.

This isn’t the first time I have injured myself doing easy tasks. I once slipped on ice and went flying in the air and hurt my back. I also fell off a skateboard a few years back and knocked my pelvis out of place.

I think I have a coordination problem.

Anyway, I woke up in the morning, got up to take the dog out and feed the cat and immediately realized that I couldn’t walk. Very bad news. I spent a bit of time in bed accessing my ankle and finally hobbled into work (to work at a desk), and my wife got me an appointment to see the doctor in the next afternoon.

Hobble, hobble, around for a couple days.

I have a pretty great doctor. He is really laid back about a lot of stuff and immediately noticed that the swelling looked like stretched ligaments until he felt around the ball of my ankle and I make that screeching noice again. Uh oh, time to get an Xray.

On the Wednesday morning I got the XRay and by the afternoon got a call with results and a prescription. I had a fractured ankle. Take it easy, ice my ankle lots, and get an inflatable walking boot.

What Is An Inflatable Walking Boot?

As you can see from the picture, that as a fashion piece the walking boot is terrible, but having my ankle completely immobile while walking is fantastic.

No pain, and the healing can come faster because I am not reinjuring my ankle by limping badly on it.

I have to say that the idea of a walking boot seemed bad to me as I would have this big thing on my leg and have to explain to everyone my very embarrassing story of how I forgot how to step down stairs.

I avoided the boot for 2 or 3 days and finally got it on the Friday afternoon – 4 days after I first injured myself.

I should have got the walking boot sooner – it was really great

The boot goes half way up your lower leg and you just push your heel into the bottom against the back and there is a shell that goes on the front that you velcro into place and then pump up to get the pressure like a cast to immobilize the ankle and foot. Takes a minute to get on and a minute to take off. Easy and a very great way to help heal.

Since I have this boot on all day I can keep it off in the evening and get the mobility a bit while still icing it at least once or twice in the evening.

One day though I had the boot on too long. I was wearing it on a warm day for over 12 hours, took it off after getting groceries with my wife and the smell that wafted through our kitchen was unmistakably mine. My foot smelled worse than I ever remember after being trapped in the boot and sweating without air for the day. Terrible, and my wife and kids wouldn’t let me forget about it.

There Was An Unexpected Advantage To The Walking Boot

I was unexpectedly surprised about one side effect of the inflatable walking boot. Instead of being angry about my injury and worrying about the healing I just let my foot heal and changed my daily schedule up a bit.

I tend to be bouncing from one task to another all the time. That first weekend I had to finally slow down and sit. Of course I can move around pretty good with my walking boot but really I find it a bit uncomfortable to be walking any kind of distance. So that weekend? I sat and read. I took time to plan my blog. I just had quiet time a lot more than I am used to and it was refreshing.

I even played some Fortnite (a video game) with my son and really had some great one on one time with my son, daughter, and wife. More than I usually would.

With more time on the couch I was able to catch up on YouTube videos and learn more, I meditated with some guided meditations, and caught up with some music on Spotify. Kind of like having a bit of a vacation at home without all the work.

Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. When you know that there is no way you will be mowing the lawn, vacuuming the house, running around to stores, there is a real freedom. I didn’t care as much about the regular weekend todo list and instead of the anxiousness that I would usually feel I just had space in time to do things that I always put to the side for “later”.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all lazy. My wife was still having me do the dishes, I had to still take out the garbage and recycling (while watching the stairs:) ) but there were a lot less steps and a lot more intention on why I was going from point A to point B.

Now three weeks later my foot is more or less better. I am not running but am walking pretty good. I can go to the gym as long as I avoid working legs, and I am riding my bike again and have no pain doing that.

This has been a great few weeks as I look back on it. I know there was a lot of pain at times as well as lots of inconvenience, but I have been really surprised at the crazy pace I tend to have that is running around in circles so much. In the end I am pretty glad for this experience, especially coming in the Spring as I have really been able to refocus on a lot of priorities that I would not have otherwise as well as knowing that I will still be well healed for Summer.

The post Break An Ankle, Take A Break appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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[albertcaldwellne]

Break An Ankle, Take A Break

We have had a long long Winter here in Calgary and I have to say I am excited seeing the temperature finally start to pick up. I think I was too excited a week ago Monday as I was going down my back stairs to take the recycling out and had a bit of a fall.

We have this little schedule at home. On Sunday night I take out garbage and Organic recycling to the back curb and on Monday night we get our other recycling together and I take that to the back curb to be picked up. We have done this for at least a couple years and it is our last thing at night before bed chore that I have done at least 200 times before.

But… Tragedy Strikes!

I have walked down a lot of stairs in my days but what happened is that for some reason as I was going down the last stair and turning to go into the back yard I somehow misjudged the distance to the ground and turned, I rolled my ankle and tumbled across my patio.

I let out a screech and grabbed my ankle but then I had the horrified thought that my stupid lack of coordination down one stair would attract the attention of my family and neighbours and I would have to explain how I had forgotten how to walk correctly

So I just whined quietly while holding my ankle until the pain went away a bit.

Finally, I got up and put a bit of weight on my leg and it seemed kinda ok. I continued limping across the lawn and through out the recycling, limped back to the house and sat on the couch, very whiney.

This isn’t the first time I have injured myself doing easy tasks. I once slipped on ice and went flying in the air and hurt my back. I also fell off a skateboard a few years back and knocked my pelvis out of place.

I think I have a coordination problem.

Anyway, I woke up in the morning, got up to take the dog out and feed the cat and immediately realized that I couldn’t walk. Very bad news. I spent a bit of time in bed accessing my ankle and finally hobbled into work (to work at a desk), and my wife got me an appointment to see the doctor in the next afternoon.

Hobble, hobble, around for a couple days.

I have a pretty great doctor. He is really laid back about a lot of stuff and immediately noticed that the swelling looked like stretched ligaments until he felt around the ball of my ankle and I make that screeching noice again. Uh oh, time to get an Xray.

On the Wednesday morning I got the XRay and by the afternoon got a call with results and a prescription. I had a fractured ankle. Take it easy, ice my ankle lots, and get an inflatable walking boot.

What Is An Inflatable Walking Boot?

As you can see from the picture, that as a fashion piece the walking boot is terrible, but having my ankle completely immobile while walking is fantastic.

No pain, and the healing can come faster because I am not reinjuring my ankle by limping badly on it.

I have to say that the idea of a walking boot seemed bad to me as I would have this big thing on my leg and have to explain to everyone my very embarrassing story of how I forgot how to step down stairs.

I avoided the boot for 2 or 3 days and finally got it on the Friday afternoon – 4 days after I first injured myself.

I should have got the walking boot sooner – it was really great

The boot goes half way up your lower leg and you just push your heel into the bottom against the back and there is a shell that goes on the front that you velcro into place and then pump up to get the pressure like a cast to immobilize the ankle and foot. Takes a minute to get on and a minute to take off. Easy and a very great way to help heal.

Since I have this boot on all day I can keep it off in the evening and get the mobility a bit while still icing it at least once or twice in the evening.

One day though I had the boot on too long. I was wearing it on a warm day for over 12 hours, took it off after getting groceries with my wife and the smell that wafted through our kitchen was unmistakably mine. My foot smelled worse than I ever remember after being trapped in the boot and sweating without air for the day. Terrible, and my wife and kids wouldn’t let me forget about it.

There Was An Unexpected Advantage To The Walking Boot

I was unexpectedly surprised about one side effect of the inflatable walking boot. Instead of being angry about my injury and worrying about the healing I just let my foot heal and changed my daily schedule up a bit.

I tend to be bouncing from one task to another all the time. That first weekend I had to finally slow down and sit. Of course I can move around pretty good with my walking boot but really I find it a bit uncomfortable to be walking any kind of distance. So that weekend? I sat and read. I took time to plan my blog. I just had quiet time a lot more than I am used to and it was refreshing.

I even played some Fortnite (a video game) with my son and really had some great one on one time with my son, daughter, and wife. More than I usually would.

With more time on the couch I was able to catch up on YouTube videos and learn more, I meditated with some guided meditations, and caught up with some music on Spotify. Kind of like having a bit of a vacation at home without all the work.

Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. When you know that there is no way you will be mowing the lawn, vacuuming the house, running around to stores, there is a real freedom. I didn’t care as much about the regular weekend todo list and instead of the anxiousness that I would usually feel I just had space in time to do things that I always put to the side for “later”.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all lazy. My wife was still having me do the dishes, I had to still take out the garbage and recycling (while watching the stairs:) ) but there were a lot less steps and a lot more intention on why I was going from point A to point B.

Now three weeks later my foot is more or less better. I am not running but am walking pretty good. I can go to the gym as long as I avoid working legs, and I am riding my bike again and have no pain doing that.

This has been a great few weeks as I look back on it. I know there was a lot of pain at times as well as lots of inconvenience, but I have been really surprised at the crazy pace I tend to have that is running around in circles so much. In the end I am pretty glad for this experience, especially coming in the Spring as I have really been able to refocus on a lot of priorities that I would not have otherwise as well as knowing that I will still be well healed for Summer.

The post Break An Ankle, Take A Break appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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[ruthellisneda]

Break An Ankle, Take A Break

We have had a long long Winter here in Calgary and I have to say I am excited seeing the temperature finally start to pick up. I think I was too excited a week ago Monday as I was going down my back stairs to take the recycling out and had a bit of a fall.

We have this little schedule at home. On Sunday night I take out garbage and Organic recycling to the back curb and on Monday night we get our other recycling together and I take that to the back curb to be picked up. We have done this for at least a couple years and it is our last thing at night before bed chore that I have done at least 200 times before.

But… Tragedy Strikes!

I have walked down a lot of stairs in my days but what happened is that for some reason as I was going down the last stair and turning to go into the back yard I somehow misjudged the distance to the ground and turned, I rolled my ankle and tumbled across my patio.

I let out a screech and grabbed my ankle but then I had the horrified thought that my stupid lack of coordination down one stair would attract the attention of my family and neighbours and I would have to explain how I had forgotten how to walk correctly

So I just whined quietly while holding my ankle until the pain went away a bit.

Finally, I got up and put a bit of weight on my leg and it seemed kinda ok. I continued limping across the lawn and through out the recycling, limped back to the house and sat on the couch, very whiney.

This isn’t the first time I have injured myself doing easy tasks. I once slipped on ice and went flying in the air and hurt my back. I also fell off a skateboard a few years back and knocked my pelvis out of place.

I think I have a coordination problem.

Anyway, I woke up in the morning, got up to take the dog out and feed the cat and immediately realized that I couldn’t walk. Very bad news. I spent a bit of time in bed accessing my ankle and finally hobbled into work (to work at a desk), and my wife got me an appointment to see the doctor in the next afternoon.

Hobble, hobble, around for a couple days.

I have a pretty great doctor. He is really laid back about a lot of stuff and immediately noticed that the swelling looked like stretched ligaments until he felt around the ball of my ankle and I make that screeching noice again. Uh oh, time to get an Xray.

On the Wednesday morning I got the XRay and by the afternoon got a call with results and a prescription. I had a fractured ankle. Take it easy, ice my ankle lots, and get an inflatable walking boot.

What Is An Inflatable Walking Boot?

As you can see from the picture, that as a fashion piece the walking boot is terrible, but having my ankle completely immobile while walking is fantastic.

No pain, and the healing can come faster because I am not reinjuring my ankle by limping badly on it.

I have to say that the idea of a walking boot seemed bad to me as I would have this big thing on my leg and have to explain to everyone my very embarrassing story of how I forgot how to step down stairs.

I avoided the boot for 2 or 3 days and finally got it on the Friday afternoon – 4 days after I first injured myself.

I should have got the walking boot sooner – it was really great

The boot goes half way up your lower leg and you just push your heel into the bottom against the back and there is a shell that goes on the front that you velcro into place and then pump up to get the pressure like a cast to immobilize the ankle and foot. Takes a minute to get on and a minute to take off. Easy and a very great way to help heal.

Since I have this boot on all day I can keep it off in the evening and get the mobility a bit while still icing it at least once or twice in the evening.

One day though I had the boot on too long. I was wearing it on a warm day for over 12 hours, took it off after getting groceries with my wife and the smell that wafted through our kitchen was unmistakably mine. My foot smelled worse than I ever remember after being trapped in the boot and sweating without air for the day. Terrible, and my wife and kids wouldn’t let me forget about it.

There Was An Unexpected Advantage To The Walking Boot

I was unexpectedly surprised about one side effect of the inflatable walking boot. Instead of being angry about my injury and worrying about the healing I just let my foot heal and changed my daily schedule up a bit.

I tend to be bouncing from one task to another all the time. That first weekend I had to finally slow down and sit. Of course I can move around pretty good with my walking boot but really I find it a bit uncomfortable to be walking any kind of distance. So that weekend? I sat and read. I took time to plan my blog. I just had quiet time a lot more than I am used to and it was refreshing.

I even played some Fortnite (a video game) with my son and really had some great one on one time with my son, daughter, and wife. More than I usually would.

With more time on the couch I was able to catch up on YouTube videos and learn more, I meditated with some guided meditations, and caught up with some music on Spotify. Kind of like having a bit of a vacation at home without all the work.

Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. When you know that there is no way you will be mowing the lawn, vacuuming the house, running around to stores, there is a real freedom. I didn’t care as much about the regular weekend todo list and instead of the anxiousness that I would usually feel I just had space in time to do things that I always put to the side for “later”.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all lazy. My wife was still having me do the dishes, I had to still take out the garbage and recycling (while watching the stairs:) ) but there were a lot less steps and a lot more intention on why I was going from point A to point B.

Now three weeks later my foot is more or less better. I am not running but am walking pretty good. I can go to the gym as long as I avoid working legs, and I am riding my bike again and have no pain doing that.

This has been a great few weeks as I look back on it. I know there was a lot of pain at times as well as lots of inconvenience, but I have been really surprised at the crazy pace I tend to have that is running around in circles so much. In the end I am pretty glad for this experience, especially coming in the Spring as I have really been able to refocus on a lot of priorities that I would not have otherwise as well as knowing that I will still be well healed for Summer.

The post Break An Ankle, Take A Break appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

Related posts:

Kidney March Experience Well last weekend my long awaited Kidney March took place and I was as, you could expect, nervous about the...

Home Remedies For Heel Spurs Home remedies for heel spurs are often not necessary because a heel spur does not always cause any pain. If...

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https://ift.tt/2IAXqvu

[neilmillerne]

Break An Ankle, Take A Break

We have had a long long Winter here in Calgary and I have to say I am excited seeing the temperature finally start to pick up. I think I was too excited a week ago Monday as I was going down my back stairs to take the recycling out and had a bit of a fall.

We have this little schedule at home. On Sunday night I take out garbage and Organic recycling to the back curb and on Monday night we get our other recycling together and I take that to the back curb to be picked up. We have done this for at least a couple years and it is our last thing at night before bed chore that I have done at least 200 times before.

But… Tragedy Strikes!

I have walked down a lot of stairs in my days but what happened is that for some reason as I was going down the last stair and turning to go into the back yard I somehow misjudged the distance to the ground and turned, I rolled my ankle and tumbled across my patio.

I let out a screech and grabbed my ankle but then I had the horrified thought that my stupid lack of coordination down one stair would attract the attention of my family and neighbours and I would have to explain how I had forgotten how to walk correctly

So I just whined quietly while holding my ankle until the pain went away a bit.

Finally, I got up and put a bit of weight on my leg and it seemed kinda ok. I continued limping across the lawn and through out the recycling, limped back to the house and sat on the couch, very whiney.

This isn’t the first time I have injured myself doing easy tasks. I once slipped on ice and went flying in the air and hurt my back. I also fell off a skateboard a few years back and knocked my pelvis out of place.

I think I have a coordination problem.

Anyway, I woke up in the morning, got up to take the dog out and feed the cat and immediately realized that I couldn’t walk. Very bad news. I spent a bit of time in bed accessing my ankle and finally hobbled into work (to work at a desk), and my wife got me an appointment to see the doctor in the next afternoon.

Hobble, hobble, around for a couple days.

I have a pretty great doctor. He is really laid back about a lot of stuff and immediately noticed that the swelling looked like stretched ligaments until he felt around the ball of my ankle and I make that screeching noice again. Uh oh, time to get an Xray.

On the Wednesday morning I got the XRay and by the afternoon got a call with results and a prescription. I had a fractured ankle. Take it easy, ice my ankle lots, and get an inflatable walking boot.

What Is An Inflatable Walking Boot?

As you can see from the picture, that as a fashion piece the walking boot is terrible, but having my ankle completely immobile while walking is fantastic.

No pain, and the healing can come faster because I am not reinjuring my ankle by limping badly on it.

I have to say that the idea of a walking boot seemed bad to me as I would have this big thing on my leg and have to explain to everyone my very embarrassing story of how I forgot how to step down stairs.

I avoided the boot for 2 or 3 days and finally got it on the Friday afternoon – 4 days after I first injured myself.

I should have got the walking boot sooner – it was really great

The boot goes half way up your lower leg and you just push your heel into the bottom against the back and there is a shell that goes on the front that you velcro into place and then pump up to get the pressure like a cast to immobilize the ankle and foot. Takes a minute to get on and a minute to take off. Easy and a very great way to help heal.

Since I have this boot on all day I can keep it off in the evening and get the mobility a bit while still icing it at least once or twice in the evening.

One day though I had the boot on too long. I was wearing it on a warm day for over 12 hours, took it off after getting groceries with my wife and the smell that wafted through our kitchen was unmistakably mine. My foot smelled worse than I ever remember after being trapped in the boot and sweating without air for the day. Terrible, and my wife and kids wouldn’t let me forget about it.

There Was An Unexpected Advantage To The Walking Boot

I was unexpectedly surprised about one side effect of the inflatable walking boot. Instead of being angry about my injury and worrying about the healing I just let my foot heal and changed my daily schedule up a bit.

I tend to be bouncing from one task to another all the time. That first weekend I had to finally slow down and sit. Of course I can move around pretty good with my walking boot but really I find it a bit uncomfortable to be walking any kind of distance. So that weekend? I sat and read. I took time to plan my blog. I just had quiet time a lot more than I am used to and it was refreshing.

I even played some Fortnite (a video game) with my son and really had some great one on one time with my son, daughter, and wife. More than I usually would.

With more time on the couch I was able to catch up on YouTube videos and learn more, I meditated with some guided meditations, and caught up with some music on Spotify. Kind of like having a bit of a vacation at home without all the work.

Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. When you know that there is no way you will be mowing the lawn, vacuuming the house, running around to stores, there is a real freedom. I didn’t care as much about the regular weekend todo list and instead of the anxiousness that I would usually feel I just had space in time to do things that I always put to the side for “later”.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all lazy. My wife was still having me do the dishes, I had to still take out the garbage and recycling (while watching the stairs:) ) but there were a lot less steps and a lot more intention on why I was going from point A to point B.

Now three weeks later my foot is more or less better. I am not running but am walking pretty good. I can go to the gym as long as I avoid working legs, and I am riding my bike again and have no pain doing that.

This has been a great few weeks as I look back on it. I know there was a lot of pain at times as well as lots of inconvenience, but I have been really surprised at the crazy pace I tend to have that is running around in circles so much. In the end I am pretty glad for this experience, especially coming in the Spring as I have really been able to refocus on a lot of priorities that I would not have otherwise as well as knowing that I will still be well healed for Summer.

The post Break An Ankle, Take A Break appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

Related posts:

Kidney March Experience Well last weekend my long awaited Kidney March took place and I was as, you could expect, nervous about the...

Home Remedies For Heel Spurs Home remedies for heel spurs are often not necessary because a heel spur does not always cause any pain. If...

Break Out Those Butt Firming Moves. Have you ever asked a friend, husband or child the question, “Does this make my butt look big?” As women,...

https://ift.tt/2IAXqvu