Holiday Season in full swing

Saturday, Tim and I got busy cleaning the house like it's never been cleaned all month (Saturday was one month from Tim's surgery. Hopefully he'll be doing really great in the next two weeks!). We hung posters (good ole' Gorbachev above the hearth), swept all the pine needles, caught up on dishes and laundry, and finally cleared the rest of our things off the shelves upstairs. I zipped over to the ferry terminal around 9 to pick up Mom, Dad, Daniel, and Amanda in Grandpa's surprisingly large car, and we all headed to the house to give Daniel and Amanda the grand tour for their first visit, and catch Dad up on all the improvements since he was last here in September. Mom also created an excellent review of different methods of getting to the Island which I will include in a new page (using the tabs along the top).

Sunday morning Daniel accompanied Tilly and I on our morning walk, which was lovely to have the company, then Grandpa, Mom, and I went to the Lutheran church down the street where we were just in time for the children's Christmas pageant. We nearly filled both cars that afternoon as we headed to the mainland and my aunt, Beth's, annual tree decorating party. Tilly got to hang out on the back porch with another dog while Mom strung popcorn and cranberries on floss to decorate the tree while Daniel entertained our cousin's little baby who mastered the art of pushing the button to make Santa and the elves rap. Tilly didn't seem to have much interest in the other dog, surprisingly, but she did manage to get into the smoker where juices were still left over from smoking the turkey all day. Her beard makes it even grosser. That was the first strike, scratching at the screen part of the door was the second, and after she found baskets of dried grass to eat, she went back in the car for the rest of her nap.

Monday was my first day working alone, and after a long day cleaning kennels and talking to little birds, I was delighted to come home to a puppy who spent all day exploring new dog parks and running on the beach with mom. She is so wonderful! And with such good timing putting the puppy to bed moments before I walked in the door.

Dad and Tim went to Uncle Loren's house and borrowed some needed larger tools. Dad borrowed Uncle Loren's awesome leaf blower and cleared some paths through our leaves, and Tim borrowed an engine hoist to lift his lathe onto it's workbench after itching to do it for the last three months. His shop is looking pretty good! Once the truck was home, Dad and I turned right around and headed to town to donate money to the orphans of Southeast Asia in exchange for a beautiful, sustainable Christmas tree.

 Today, Mom, Grandpa and I ran some errands which included going to the recycling center where Tilly patiently sat on the scale and showed off her 30lb high score! We also picked up lights for our tree before eagerly heading home to get the house looking seasonal. Our small box of ornaments don't go nearly as far on such a large tree.

We've been showing off puppy tricks to the family. Tilly understands:
- "Go to bed"
- "Sit"
- "Down"
- "Back"
- "Wait"
- "Ok"
- "Hup"
- "Touch"
- "Come"
- "Heel"
Maybe others but those are the ones I can think of now. I think she also gets things like "Water", "Outside", "No", "Yes", "Off", "Potty/Pee/Poop", "Leave it/Drop it/Share" etc. but her execution doesn't prove much.

New jobs all around

The perk of starting my day at 6am, going for a walk with Tilly in the dark, then heading off to work, it the beautiful sunrise that was waiting for me at the top of the driveway, though waking up to sunshine and blue skies out my window at 8:30 is also a pretty good start to the day. Nevertheless, heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I went.

My favorite part of work seems to be the birds. There are these guys inside who sometimes talk and love goldfish, and the outside bird building with a diverse crowd. They were all pet store rejects because they were born with deformities, so they get to live out long and happy lives with their birdie buddies, dogs barking, and daily love and care. There is one bird that was born quite ugly and has been living here for 20 years!

While I was playing with the critters and earning dollars, Tim was busy with his job all day - physical therapy. 45 minutes of every waking hour is spent wiggling his fingers and bending his wrist in a painful process of healing. The scar is being massaged away, the tendon scar tissue is learning to glide back and forth again, and the muscles are trying to remember what those "move" signals mean and fighting their way past the injury. It is a slow journey to recovery, but Tim is persistent. Tomorrow, Friday the 13th, is the one month anniversary of the injury. Hopefully by Christmas and New Years, his hand will be responding more normally to signals and working on gaining back strength instead of struggling to move.

(Tilly's new job is to try to be very good for Tim while I'm gone all day)

Leaps and bends!

Ariel's highlight of the day: getting a call that indeed, I have a job and will be going in to work tomorrow!

Three of Till's baby teeth from the floor of "her room".

Tilly's highlight of the day: going for a walk early in the AM, then going for another walk with Sandy and John (she was so good and even SAT while they walked up!), then going for another walk around Greenbank farm, then going for ANOTHER walk around Greenbank farm with a pack of dogs, then running into our favorite island Akbash and going for ANOTHER walk around Greenbank farm... then finally going home to nap all day with Grandpa. Also, it has got to feel so good to be rid of more of those puppy teeth that were bruising her mouth and ripping up my hand. Ouch all around! 

Old wrist angle and new wrist angle as Tim continues to improve.

Tim's highlight of the day: going to physical therapy and being granted the ability to bend his wrist between 0 and 30 degrees and start to use his muscles! Though it's painful and difficult, it is also great to know that turning his hand over won't make his incredibly stiff and muscleless wrist flop back and rip everything apart again, and see progress and improvement, actively moving towards having a normal hand again instead of passively waiting to heal. In a few weeks, he'll be feeling much better. 

Doggy dog day

Tim took off with Fritz for the day to explore the wooden boats of Port Townsend, and I went for a little drive up to Sky Meadow Farm to see about a job with their dog boarding and breeding program. It's not particularly high paying or intellectually stimulating, but it is part time and most importantly, starts immediately. It sounds like, with luck, I'll be working on Friday and starting to bring home some much needed money. Sky Meadow Farm 'breeds' (through artificial insemination and c-section) French and English Bull Dogs, which there seem to be about 30 of in the building. Because of their stubby little noses and such, they aren't supposed to go out side if it's very hot or very cold, which means a lot of pens to clean!

On the home-puppy front, Tilly went for her last pre-paid puppy class and first "adult" puppy class - only one of the dogs was over a year, but they were all over 4 months which gets them out of puppy kindergarten. We missed a puppy class while in Seattle for Tim's surgery, so this was a make-up class for us. Two of the puppies were familiar from the last class, but there were also some older newbies who were still struggling with the basics. Tilly was a model student and spent her waiting time silently sitting, backing up, waiting, then coming over for a treat. If we make it to two more classes, we can take the AKC "STAR puppy" test, though we'll see about our job situation before signing up for anything else. (If you click on that link, note all the Airedales on the banner at the top!)

Tilly's Christmas Wish List for those who were asking:
- Custom decorated extra large metal or ceramic pot (not too tippy) for a water bowl
- Dog brush
- Light up leash for night (and early morning) walks
- Yak cheese chew stick (bigger the better)
- More puppy classes at Canine Potentials in Clinton

Catch up and Ooblic

Friday, we made the long drive to Seattle for Tim's next appointment. The stitches are finally out and everything is looking good! Three more weeks until he gets the "green light" to take the splint off and carry on with normal life, but already it is so much better. Without stitches, he can finally take a normal shower without duct tape and garbage bags, and sleeping keeps getting easier. While we were out, Grandpa volunteered to take care of Tilly, so I put aside my fretting and left the house without her.

After the successful doctors appointment, we were already half way to Tacoma, so we figured we'd drive the rest of the way down and check out the "Science Dome" which was having a special planetarium night (free) talking about that comet that just shot into the sun from the far reaches of space and Google's incentive to motivate private groups to head back to the moon. 

Yes, that is what you've always dreamed of: a pool full of ooblic! They also used liquid nitrogen to make instant ice cream!

The show got out at 8:30, but we didn't pull into the driveway until after 11:30pm! Much later than we expected to be home, and although Tilly had an excellent day with Grandpa, she got diarrhea just before we got home and made quite a mess for me to clean up. At 2am, her house was finally cleaned with laundry done and my warm, dry, freshly washed puppy was curled up on my lap sleeping and ready for bed. At least she let us sleep in a little the next morning.

We have a new neighbor who moved into the smallest house on the lake with little Mr. Magoo, the grumpy older dog who doesn't appreciate being pummeled by a puppy twice his size. Though Mr. Magoo wasn't so excited to see us, his owner was very excited about her first morning waking up in her beautiful new home. 

We walked for quite a ways until I was satisfied Tilly was properly worn out, then headed back to the house to get Tim and drive to Oak Harbor and back on an unsuccessful trip to try to apply for a new ID (they closed an hour before we got there). It is amazingly exhausting and time consuming to run errands with an injured arm, a puppy, and long drives everywhere we go!

So that gets us caught up to today, which has been a laid back day of walking, UU church, more walking... While Tim rested his arm, Tilly and I walked around Greenbank farm until we found a familiar puppy from our puppy class and her family to walk with, then the puppies ran and ran and ran as we made two full slow loops around the entire farm. I put Tilly back in the car where she happily curled up for a nap while I checked out the holiday market and made fiber friends, then she slept all the way home and went straight to bed with no fuss. Even when Fritz (a fellow Juneau immigrant) and his girlfriend Gail stopped in for a visit, Tilly only sustained her excitement for a fleeting minute before passing out in my arms again and heading back to bed. 

More adventures tomorrow!

Balloon tricks

Let's see, Tim guided me through installing light fixtures in our apartment, giving us two new light sources downstairs. We waited all day for the floor guy to come to show him the problem spots but he never showed. I chatted online with my Masters of Teaching friend, Bernadette, and we got eachother remotivated to get busy with our papers. 

For lunch and dinner, Tilly worked on her latest greatest trick: bouncing a balloon on her nose! When Min Min came, she blew up a bunch of balloons for Tilly and gave them to her one at a time. Tilly barked at them and attacked them and popped them and ran from them. I had another idea of what we could do with a balloon, in my never ending hunt for new games and challenges for Tilly. Yesterday, I presented Tilly with a balloon which she barked at and ran from until I took it away. Today, I was determined to do better, and after about two minutes of lunch practice and a few minutes over dinner, Tilly was bopping away and ready for the camera! It is so amazing how, once I have properly shown Tilly what I'm looking for, she picks it up immediately. What a smarty-pup!

What a wonderful life!

Morning walk in the sun with friends - followed by tea, coffee, and conversation as the dogs wore each other out.
Lobster dinner at home with Grandpa.
Sitting at the foot of our bed next to a warm fireplace flipping through the latest Seed Savers Exchange catalog.
My awesome husband putting Tilly to bed with her new puppy-gate letting her stretch out in her little room under the stairs.
Life is so good!

Run around the puppy

After Tim installed are awesome new slam-proof, non-broken toilet seat (sliding around when you go to sit down is really not acceptable), we were enamored by the beautiful blue-skied day and went for a walk around Greenbank farm. It seems we were early as there were no other dogs or humans in the off-leash park when we arrived, but when we made it back to the parking lot, dogs started appearing all over the place. Tim went to check out the shops and warm up a bit as I watched Tilly take off after her new favorite creatures. We met an Akbash puppy about a year old who actually played with Tilly instead of getting fed up and pinning her right away. I think Tilly and I were both a little shocked at how different and more equitable the game was than her usual position of low-ranking nuisance. The owner of the Akbash was of course an alpaca farmer woman, just like Rolly who had the only other Akbashes I've met. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Tim and Tilly or Tilly and the Akbash playing in the beautiful sun. I think today may have been more walking than Tim's done since his surgery.

Handyman

My outstanding husband spent the day repairing all the shocks and tightening the steering on the truck, installed an outlet on the ceiling in the shop, and mounted his power cord reel. He velcroed  tools to his left hand and used his elbow to hold things in place. It's amazing how even with one hand he can do so many thing most of us would be intimidated to try under any condition. When we were working on the truck and he headed in to look for more tools, I tested my theory that his one hand can still do way more than both my arms combined - and I was right, as I pulled fruitlessly on the bar he'd been working through the steering column to re-tap a hole.

Oh right, now I remember why we had to get the truck all fixed up: after several weeks of missing trash pickup, having visitors, cleaning up the construction site, and grandpa moving in, we had quite the pile of refuse stacked around our house and I was beginning to feel buried so we loaded up the truck and headed to the dump. The dump is just outside Coupeville, which I believe is practically Oak Harbor, so we headed around the last few corners and stopped by the DMV - which is closed on Mondays and open Saturdays here on Whidbey, so that didn't work - then we picked up some other items like a new toilet seat, a cutting board, and nail clippers. All the essentials of life.

In the dark

Well, the power just came back on after an hour and a half of darkness (remember, even though laptops, tablets, and phones run off batteries, the internet still needs power). Right before bed is pretty good timing for a power outage at least! Everything flickered and went out around 9:30. Tim was in the other room, but I was sitting in bed with our most powerful flashlight by my side so I could light up the whole house instantly. I headed upstairs to check on Grandpa and ended up telling stories by flashlight of teaching and hospitals for over an hour. I always loved power outs as a kid and I guess they still hold a certain magic. When I came downstairs, Tim had lit our room with the bag of tea candles we bought a couple weeks ago just in case. Also, coming down the stairs in the dark and watching my step a little closer than before, I found out the balloons in front of my door are actually Tilly's fan mail with little love notes from my youngest cousin.

Before the power went out, I worked on my homework and Tim managed to repair our dishwasher, clean the house, and fitted the new switch panel into the truck after all his hard, one-handed work making it yesterday. I think this is pretty mad impressive regardless, but seeing him find creative ways to make this whole thing with one hand was particularly inspiring. That is a custom cut and painted metal plate which he measured, cut, drilled, and panted by using some vice grips in lieu of a second hand. We stopped by the hardware store today for parts and picked up a couple new outlets and light switches, as well as a bag of wire nuts in hopes of getting the wiring in this house finished up soon.

Thanksgiving Farming

Finally, almost December, and I'm getting back into the farm work that's slowed down since Tilly came. Who knew Min Min would be such an inspiration!

The day before Thanksgiving, I finally got that garlic in the ground I'd been meaning to plant. I double-tilled a large strip in the center of the driveway turnaround, and started separating out the garlic cloves to plant. I soon realized there was way more to plant than I had room for! Even with the tightest spacing I thought was reasonable, I only managed to plant most of the Georgian Fire and most of the Chesnok Red, though I still have German Extra Hardy and Pskem River left. In preparation for Thanksgiving, Grandpa and I went on a last-minute shopping run for pie and ice cream, potatoes, gravy, stuffing ingredients, yams and marshmallows, cranberries.... and we did a little housework to get ready for my uncle and cousin. Our friend Fritz from Juneau stopped by to say hi as well. 

Thanksgiving morning, after a long bike ride with Tilly, I got the stuffing and marshmallow yams all ready before heading to Heidi and Launie's house (the previous owners of our house) for our first Thanksgiving. After some delicious crab cakes and a quick visit, it was time for Tim and Grandpa to head home to get the turkey in the oven and mash potatoes and boil cranberries, while I took the ferry to the mainland and headed towards I-5 to pick my uncle and cousin up from the bus stop. By the time we got home, it was well after 7pm and the turkey was just about ready. We had a family dinner, some local pie and ice cream, then with full bellies headed off to bed. 

Friday morning, the day of leftovers and crowded stores, Min Min, Tilly and I headed down to explore the beach, then Min Min, Grandpa, and my uncle headed across the water to retrieve the U-box full of Grandpa's things - which ended up being a full day adventure. I made serious progress on my schoolwork and Tim started feeling tingling in his fingers. 

When the trio returned from the mainland, Min Min came to find me saying "It snowed! There's snow on the porch!" We ran up stairs and looked out the back, but there was no snow. "No, it's only on the front. We came home and there's snow on the front porch!" I thought it was strange, but sometimes these things happen, so we opened the door and sure enough! Snow everywhere! Or at least in a big pile in front of the door. We threw snowballs for Tilly and built a snowman topped with raisins.

Min Min did a great job helping teach Tilly the right way to be, and after a long day of playing, Tilly finally collapsed on the floor happily asleep yet trying desperately hard to stay on her towel for some reason.

After stopping to admire mom's awesome packing job, I headed up the hill with the little dog and little girl for an outing while my uncle and grandpa continued ferrying boxes into the house.

Min Min had been doing an excellent job helping carry boxes, but was delighted to come along on Tilly's morning walk and my lovely uncle was delighted to have some time to focus on the move-in.

As soon as we got up the driveway, we ran into our wonderful neighbors John, Fay, Sandy, and one of their holiday house guests. We took our usual walk with the "precocious" seven-year-old in tow, and found ourselves wandering back past our house and down to their yard as John relayed stories of buffalo's and diaper changing to Min Min and I. Somehow the two little ones slipped in to the house in the blink of the eye, so with Fay's permission, we all stayed for muffins and play time.

Min Min only wanted to play tug with Tilly, and Tilly only wanted to snuggle with Sandy.

When there were clear signs of fatigue in both little ones, we gathered our shoes and headed home.

 Min Min lead the way down the driveway with a trail of treats.

Once home, Tilly took a nap and us human girls got to work in the yard. First, Min Min shoveled up 9 buckets full of pine needles - I did I think 2, plus the 4 I did the other day for a grand total of 75 packed gallons of needles!

While Min Min was filling buckets, I finally got my compost area straightened out. It's still a little fragile, but I'm hoping filling it full of compost will help stabilize things. If not, I'll have to figure something else out, but at least it's a start!

Once we cleaned most of the needles from the bottom parking area (oh yeah, 75 gallons just from down there without even clearing the driveway or upper parking), we headed into the grass armed with a bucket, hoe, and shovel, on the look out for deer poop. Together, we filled another bucket full of prime manure. I figure shoveling poo with a seven-year old-assistant is the one time it is entirely appropriate to crack as many doo-doo jokes as possible.

Oh! And I almost forgot! I finished my Alaska History class for my Masters today!! Now, only a fake research paper (very odd assignment) and my portfolio left! Woo hoo! I am hoping I will make the December deadline in two weeks. 

Homey

Success! Today's goals: find Tilly more puppy food, and find cheap furniture.

We swung by the thrift store by our house as a first attempt before dreading the long drive to Oak Harbor. I had looked before without much luck - most of their good shelving at the thrift store is NFS as they use it for display, but maybe I wasn't looking very hard last time as I was also surprised by their anti-puppy policy. This time, we came prepared with a bone to leave with Tilly in the freshly cleaned truck, and two of us to hunt down the good stuff. Upstairs, I found my dream shelf - 6 feet tall with puppy-resistant doors on the bottom shelf! A nice woman brought it down to the front for us as we kept looking and came across a desk! Tim has been needing a desk to settle into his own space and get his things organized. I have my leather writing desk with built-in typewriter I've made us haul from house to house, but Tim has had to make due with what's around. We found this desk for Tim with cupboards and shelves above and a nice big desk area. It was covered in fine china and porcelain dolls waiting to be sold, so with some guilt, we let the lady at the front know we wanted it but weren't sure how we were going to get it into the house with three hands. Just then, another woman walked by and heard. "Where exactly do you live? Honeymoon Bay Road? Before or after all the curves?" She was on her way to run some other deliveries, and for a small donation to the Senior Services program, she'd be happy to bring our furniture right into the house in about twenty minutes. Woo hoo! We rushed home to clean and shuffle cars, then they arrived with our beautiful new furniture. Between these new furniture pieces and the beautiful new fridge that came yesterday inspiring us to stalk it and the cupboards full of good foods, this house is getting mighty homey. It's crazy to think that we've only been living here a little more than a week, not counting the time we spent in Seattle shortly after the floors were done. Unbelievable the transformation that's happened since this was a moldy old basement.

Tilly playing in her box on the search for food and cardboard to tear up. Thanks, Mom, for her new hobby! 

Tim happily utilizing his awesome new desk. 

 Our flashlight family waiting by the door to go on outings every few hours with Tilly and I.

Tilly really excited about her new bone and slowly gaining freedom in our ever cleaner and better organized (thus more puppy-safe) house.

Free range Greenbank dogs

This morning was a spectacular sunrise, and thanks to Tilly, I got to see it! And I also got to go back to sleep after. 

I took Tilly for a short walk down the street before and after church, but quickly saw that wasn't going to be good enough and was more exhausting for me than her, so we hopped in the car and headed for Greenbank Farm.

We immediately ran into our Airedale neighbors from Honeymoon lake who have a 16 year old Wire Fox Terrier the same size as Tilly is now, and a 14 year old Airedale.

Thanks to their help, Tilly got some manners lessons and properly worn out while I made friends. Hopefully we will be going on many more outings together to the wonderful off-leash dog parks of Whidbey Island.

We came home to a clean house thanks to Tim's innovations in one-armed sweeping and work on the kitchen.

Practice Thanksgiving

Last night was the first night in over a week that I slept all night! Woo hoo! Then, around eight, Tilly got tired of that business and decided it was time for a long walk. I took Tilly for a 2 1/2 mile "run" ie long walk with a little biting, pulling, and some nice trotting even! After eventually getting home and showering off, I jumped in the car with grandpa and a back seat full of cardboard while Tilly took a nice long nap. Once we were back from recycling, it was time to hop in the car and head to my uncle's house in Munro for a quiet family dinner of about 20. Tim held up in his sling, dinner was AMAZING with all my incredible aunts cooking away, and Tilly got to meet the cows. 

Tim and I were the only kids at the kids table married and old enough to drink, but as he's on painkillers, and I was driving, so root beer and cider seemed about right.

 We served oldest to youngest, letting Neighbor Paul and Grandpa take the lead.

 Grandpa Loren was up to no good slipping the baby whip cream and ice cream.

So many stories flying around the grown-up table.

Tilly

I feel like it would almost be worth while graphing how long I can keep Tilly's attention with any one item - make a game out of her puppy-sized attention span! So far frozen washcloth boiled and soaked in fatty chicken juices seems to be a winner. Unfortunately, most brilliant ideas only work well the first time, and even then only for so long. After more doctors appointments where we were told Tim is doing super, better than expected, and awesome, and we scheduled his stitches-removal for two weeks out and physical therapy the week after that, and came home exhausted and cold. Walking in the dark with the grumpy pup was a hard sell, so I instead played "walk around the house" where we brought things from our kitchen, all the way through the shop at the far end of the house, up the stairs past grandpa, and into the other kitchen at the far end there, then exchanged our item for something up stairs and made the trip back, stopping and sitting at every closed door. A couple of these trips made for quite the walk! Plus we discovered the joy of playing fetch with the ball all the way down our super long hallway complete with slippery floors.

Classes glasses classes

I finally got some homework done, Tim got busy cleaning the kitchen with one arm and putting away the Pyrex, and Grandpa took Tilly and I to our last puppy kindergarten where she performed incredibly well despite a crazy week and got her diploma! I still haven't gotten my garlic in the ground, darnit!

Fish Expo!

After a long and harrowing drive to downtown Seattle, we finally arrived at the RIGHT convention center and walked in to the wonderful world of Fish Expo! Last night we registered on line, and due to some problems with the site, I couldn't register as a family member, so I got to be a commercial fisherman with the official title of "First Mate" to "Tim's Fishing and Marine Repair". We ran into Ed and Cathy from Juneau, met a woman from Greenbank (Whidbey), then lo-and-behold! There was our good friend Nancy at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game table! Although we couldn't find any remote control boats, there were bowls of chocolate everywhere and the whole thing was pretty cool. Tim found a creative use for his name-tag lanyard and managed to stay vertical for over an hour!.

Able bodied

Today was the first day we took care of Tilly ourselves since Tim's accented. So far, knock on wood, it's her first day without the runs since her shots the day before his accident. Tim was up and around the house, cleaning out the upstairs bedroom, scrubbing the shower, and helping with Tilly. We even carefully washed Tim's arm! Today was also my mom and Joe's last day at the house, so it is good we are perking up and starting to get on top of taking care of ourselves again. Tilly, Mom, and I headed up to Greenbank Farm and Greenbank Store to get pie and ice cream to deliver to the wonderful people who helped out with Tilly while we were in Seattle. Maybe tomorrow I'll even get that garlic in the ground!

From duck to zebra

Mom decided to stay another couple days, thank goodness, and Joe is also still here so the house is nice and full with Grandpa and Tilly as well. Mom and Grandpa went shopping at Home Depot this morning, than tag teamed with Tim and I as we left Tilly home and headed for Seattle for our first follow up appointment.

Way beautiful ground floor for the outpatient building at Harbor view Medical. Instead of each floor being called the orthopedic floor, ophthalmology floor, psychiatric floor, and otolaryngology floor, they are called things like "connection", "discovery", "communication", and "understanding" or something like that.

The stuffing was ripped out of Tim's duck puppet bit by bit until his naked arm remained. 

As Tim worked hard to hold very, very still, the last bit of bandage was taken off and we could finally see his excellent stitches.

Our physical therapist gave the wounded limb a little spa treatment, then headed for the ribbon caddy full of bandages, Velcro, and other excellent supplies. Tim's arm now has its own cozy little sock, complete with custom cut thumb hole.

Next, the physical therapist put his art skills to work, making a template using Tim's good hand, finessing it to fit the bad hand, roughly cutting it out of special plastic that then went into a tub of boiling water until it became clear and soft, then carefully molding it around the wounded hand that Tim was working hard to keep relaxed and still.

The final effect could really use some googly eyes, maybe a couple little ears, a tail... but its looking pretty good and gets a lot more breathing time than the old hot and stuffy cast. Now Tim is working on his physical therapy so that in about 6 weeks he should be able to hold a cup of water in his left hand and spend time without his superhero sidekick in full getup. Looks like we have many more commutes ahead.

Hopefully life will slowly start returning to normal now.