Life on Mount Norway.......

..........is good.

I love the orangey-red colors on my maple tree that lives just outside the laundry room door.

This little guy spun a perfect web in one of my hydrangea bushes. While I'm not a spider fan, still I admire his craftsmanship. So I resisted my impulse to scream and squash him.

John thinks that it's funny that I invite Lulu to have breakfast with me at the kitchen island every morning. Of course, Lulu thinks it's just what she deserves and about time, too.  Since we moved out to the country, I have yet to put her on a leash when we go on walks.

I love seeing morning clouds below me. 

 

We hear the darndest things up here on our mountain. I think sound carries extremely well especially from the river valley below us. There is a moto-cross race track for off road motorbikes waaaaaayyyyyy across the valley on the next ridge of mountain foothills north of us. It's miles and miles and miles away. We bought our place knowing it was there and that when races were scheduled, we'd probably hear something from there. And we do -- but it sounds like a distant buzz of angry bees, not motorcycles. Which is fine by me.

Yesterday, from somewhere west, back in the forest, first I heard the unmistakable gobble gobble of a turkey. Repeatedly. Then, the excited yapping of a puppy. And then some guy yelling what seemed to be a dog's name in frustration.....I'm thinking that there was some kind of interesting story in that sequence of events. Grin.

Some of my favorite neighbors live in a pasture about a mile down the road from our house.

I can hear their moos every day. I love it -- makes me feel like a kid again when we had Black Angus beef cattle on Dad's farm. I laughed when I first saw them and told John what a naughty species of cattle this had been for Dad. It seemed we were always having to chase them back to where they belonged since they were able to escape their pasture at will. And sure enough, a few weeks ago, John and I came down the road and were met with the sight of a frisky little black guy standing dead center in the road. Exactly where he shouldn't be. Looking back at his buddies in the pasture with what I swear was a "nanner nanner" expression on his face.

John let the farmer know of his escape but he didn't seem too concerned. I'll bet it happens all of the time.

So much excitement around here. Turkeys and Angus and motorcycles, oh my..

Team-Based Autoimmune Care in Pittsburgh

Check this out from Medscape Nurses: one stop autoimmune care in Pittsburgh. What a great concept! You can read the complete article here. (Sometimes sites like these require you to create a free password protected account to gain access.)

Closing the Care Gap in Autoimmune Disease

Miriam E. Tucker

A new, first-in-kind center in Pittsburgh is addressing a major gap in medicine: the complex needs of patients with one or more autoimmune conditions, who typically see numerous specialists in an uncoordinated fashion and often remain undiagnosed and untreated for years.

The new $30 million Highmark/Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Autoimmunity Institute offers a distinct alternative by providing comprehensive multispecialty care in a one-stop setting, and also by conducting research into diagnostics, treatments, and care delivery.

The institute comprises four "centers of excellence" for the treatment of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and celiac disease. But the facility's many specialists—including those from rheumatology, allergy/clinical immunology, pulmonary, dermatology, gastroenterology, nephrology, endocrinology, and cardiology—all work together to address the needs of patients with a wide variety of common, not-so-common, and sometimes unlabeled autoimmune conditions.

It's the design of the future, in my mind. It's getting doctors out of their offices. We consult with each other...

"What we're doing is unique. You will not find this kind of institute that has this kind of multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to patient care along with research," says rheumatologist Susan Manzi, MD, MPH, chair, AHN Medicine Institute and director of the Lupus Center of Excellence.

Housed at Pittsburgh's West Penn Hospital, the Autoimmunity Institute fills about 48,000 square feet, including clinical, laboratory, and administrative space. There are 16 exam rooms surrounded by a large corridor, dubbed the "huddle hall," where the specialists, along with nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, and other staff, meet to discuss management of individual patients. There are no private offices with shut doors.

"It's the design of the future, in my mind. It's getting doctors out of their offices. We consult with each other...Doctors don't typically do it because it's not convenient. We've made it convenient," Manzi says.

"It's designed as a new model of team-based care," says Autoimmunity Institute chair Joseph M. Ahearn, MD, who is also chief scientific officer for Allegheny Singer Research Institute at AHN and professor of medicine at Temple University's Pittsburgh branch.....continue reading here. 

A New Buddy

After we moved out into the country, John and I purchased a garden tractor and trailer. I've named her Daisy and wake up every day looking for a good excuse to drive her around. What a hoot.

Isn't she gorgeous?

Sometimes I let John drive her around, but mostly she's MINE.

Look at Lulu. She loves when Daisy and I are on the move. Lulu runs circles around us as we zip along. Poor puppy is exhausted by the time I'm done mowing the lawn but it's a happy-dog tired.

I was trying to figure out why I get such a charge out of my tractor, and I think one of the reasons is that when I fire her up and take off, I feel kind of invincible. And powerful. Daisy lets me do stuff that I would never ever consider doing without her. So there's the lawn mowing thing, sure. But with two and a half acres to take care of, there's always other things to do. Like hauling downed branches and pulled weeds over to the burn pit. And transporting our garbage and recycling containers waaaaayyyyy out to the designated spot on our road. She has power steering so maneuvering her doesn't take much of my energy and can turn on a dime.

We actually own five acres but only half of it is kind of flat. The other two and a half acres drops vertically down the mountain so we just let it do it's own nature thing. John keeps threatening to strap a climbing harness on and head down to the bottom of our property but I think that may not be such a good idea. I think that sitting on our deck with binoculars is a safer option, don't you?

Hm. Wonder how long it would take for Daisy and I to motor over to Terese's house?