That maybe the question some of my initial followers have been asking. It’s a long, horrible and tragic story – but I believe time has come to do some sharing.

The initial reason for this blog was to share my/our experience in building a 30′ x 86′ greenhouse. Yep, we did it ourselves, it is up and it is kinda running?! We are getting great produce out of it, which was the plan.

Two years after we completed the main part of construction, we had a house fire (Easter Sunday 2014). Unless you have lived through one, you may not understand the loss. My 4-year-old grandson was lost in the fire also – so the loss is huge!(The floor had to be supported underneath here due to the 125+ year old piano in the far corner.  Amazingly it didn’t fall through-however it was too badly damaged and was trashed along with everything else.

In June of that same year I had to have part of my left index finger amputated (infection that got serious!). Those of you that know me personally, this was also devastating as I knit and crochet and that finger is important to the craft.

August was the discovery of osteoarthritis and the full reverse replacement of my right shoulder. November the full right knee. December the full left knee. March of 2015 saw the gutting and front tendon cut of the left shoulder (the ball is still in fairly good shape so the Doctor did not want to replace it just yet.). Then 5/1/15 was a major dissection of the left foot. It now has several screws, a metal plate, and a 2nd toe that will never curl again.

The foot surgery left me pretty much house-bound (close to bed-bound) for 3 months – not an initial plan on my part! During this time about the only thing I was able to do was think. I did a lot of thinking. My sister calls me the bionic woman – don’t feel so bionic. I feel better that I did before the fire – nice job doctors! But I still had a hole inside me. Something I was missing but couldn’t pin-point. So, in May of this year I did some major soul-searching and discovered that I maybe down, but I’m not out yet!

Check into my next blog to see how I have been getting through all of this! Thank you for viewing/reading!

Rachel